British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab on Tuesday sent a stark message to China to “reconsider” its recent decision to approve a strict national security law on Hong Kong, which critics fear will impede on the territory’s autonomy.
China’s legislature last week moved forward with the law on Hong Kong that would allow Chinese intelligence and security forces to be based inside the district for the first time, and seeks to address terrorism, secession and foreign interference in the city.
The proposal of the law sparked widespread protests in the city as thousands of Hong Kong residents took to the streets, and has since been condemned by democracies around the world.
“There is time for China to reconsider, there is a moment for China to step back from the brink and respect Hong Kong’s autonomy and respect China’s own international obligations,” Mr. Raab said during a parliamentary session.
He said that if Beijing pushes forward with the ruling, “it will be strangling what has long been the jewel in the economic crown.”
Critics of the legislation, which include the U.S. and U.K., have claimed that it will erode Hong Kong’s freedoms granted under a 1997 treaty between Britain and China that bound Beijing’s communist rulers to respect Hong Kong’s autonomy as a special administrative region and to leave its liberal economy and government for 50 years under the formulation “one country, two systems.”
Mr. Raab maintained on Tuesday that the national security law is in violation of the principle, and said the U.K. is ready to form an alliance with western countries to resist China’s implementation of the law if Beijing moves forward.
Pro-Beijing lawmakers, meanwhile, have insisted that the law will not impact the autonomy granted to the city under the pact.
When asked if he thinks China will ultimately back down amid international pressure, he said “we think that it is unlikely that will happen.”
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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