tirsdag 21. juli 2020

UK suspends Hong Kong extradition treaty and extends China arms embargo to the city

The UK will suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong"immediately and indefinitely" due to the controversial national security lawimplemented in the city by mainland China. Addressing lawmakers, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab expressed his concerns over the lack of legal and judicial safeguards for citizens living under the new national security legislation, warning Beijing that "the United Kingdom is watching. And the whole world is watching."

"The imposition of this new national security legislation has significantly changed key assumptions underpinning our extradition treaty arrangements with Hong Kong," Raab said in the UK Parliament Monday. "We will not consider reactivating those arrangements unless and until there are clear and robust safeguards which are able to prevent extradition from the UK being misused under the new national security legislation," Raab told the House of Commons.