Over 30 UK parliamentarians urge British gov’t to raise concerns over Hong Kong freedoms

More than 30 UK parliamentarians have signed a joint letter asking the British foreign secretary to make Hong Kong’s the rule of law and basic freedoms a top priority in diplomatic relations with Hong Kong.

The letter – dated last Friday – was signed by 15 MPs and 16 Lords from the Liberal Democrats, the Labour Party, and the ruling Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party. It was led by Labour MP Catherine West, a former shadow foreign minister and the current deputy-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on China.

“We are asking you to act because the Sino-British Joint Declaration provides the UK with the legal obligation to monitor and promote Hong Kong’s rule of law and basic freedom until the end of the handover period in 2047,” the letter read.

They called on the UK to raise the matter through “high-level diplomacy” – and publicly – by issuing a recommendation during the Universal Periodic Review process. Under the process, Hong Kong’s human rights situation is reviewed – as part of China – every five years.

They said Hong Kong’s human rights issues were neglected in China’s previous review, but the same must not be true this time with the recent crackdown on Hong Kong’s rule of law and freedoms.

“Given our obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, we urge you to take the opportunity to bring these developments into the spotlight at the United Nations,” the parliamentarians wrote in the letter.

In April, 45 Hong Kong civil society organisations submitted more than 100 suggestions to the United Nations relating to Hong Kong’s “deteriorating rule of law and human rights environment.”

The parliamentarians said that the rule of law and freedoms are in the interests of international trade.

“Our long-standing trading relationship with Hong Kong has flourished because ‘one-country, two-systems’ provides much-needed transparency and fair play for businesses operating in the region, alongside essential protections of the fundamental freedoms which sets apart Hong Kong as ‘Asia’s World City’.”

Although they admitted that the Chinese top legislature had the power to interpret the Basic Law – Hong Kong’s de facto constitution – they said that “the independence of the judiciary may be compromised by Beijing’s increasingly frequent use of their interpretative powers.”

Beijing has issued five interpretations of the Basic Law since the 1997 Handover, with the most recent one linked to the disqualification of six pro-democracy lawmakers.

They also said that “[the] law is being used by the government of Hong Kong to punitively clamp down on the democracy movement in Hong Kong.”

In the letter, they raised concerns about the disqualification of lawmakers and candidates from running for Legislative Council elections, the sentencing of lawmakers and their staff for unlawful assembly inside the legislature, and the use of the Public Order Ordinance in the case of Edward Leung, who was sentenced to six years for rioting.

It was publicised before Boris Johnson resigned as British Foreign Secretary on Monday. Jeremy Hunt will succeed Johnson.

Pleased that this letter will now be one of the first on the new Foreign Secretary’s table. Making Hong Kong a priority from the start. https://t.co/uI8NS3a5Ks

— Hong Kong Watch (@hk_watch) July 9, 2018

The letter came after an event on Hong Kong’s 21st Handover anniversary at the Parliament on July 3, where Hong Kong’s last colonial governor Chris Patten responded to his critics after calling for the 1997 Public Order Ordinance to be reformed.

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