lørdag 2. mai 2020

'Rethink China Ties,' Last Colonial Governor of Hong Kong Warns UK

Former colonial governor Chris Patten has called on the U.K. to rethink its ties with China's ruling Communist Party, warning of further escalation of political persecution by authorities in Hong Kong. Lord Patten of Barnes said Beijing appears to be reneging on an international, legally binding treaty governing the status of Hong Kong, which was promised the continuation of its traditional freedoms after the 1997 handover to Chinese rule.

"Beijing officials have made statements about their role in Hong Kong which are a flagrant breach of the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law," Patten wrote to U.K. foreign secretary Dominic Raab, referring to the treaty and to Hong Kong's mini-constitution respectively. "They claim the right to call all the shots in Hong Kong thus destroying once and for all the promises that Hong Kong would have a high degree of local autonomy," he wrote in the April 26 letter.