UK and US leaders have criticised China’s erosion of freedoms and rights in Hong Kong, because the territory marks 25 years since its handover from Britain.
After Xi Jinping started his first go to to the town since 2017, British prime minister Boris Johnson and US secretary of state Antony Blinken mentioned Beijing had did not respect the “one nation, two techniques” association agreed underneath the deal that ended British colonial rule in 1997.
Vowing to not “surrender” on Hong Kong, Johnson mentioned: “It’s a state of affairs that threatens each the rights and freedoms of Hongkongers and the continued progress and prosperity of their dwelling.”
Blinken mentioned Friday was speculated to be the midway mark of fifty years of promised autonomy underneath one nation, two techniques, “but it’s now evident that Hong Kong and Beijing authorities not view democratic participation, basic freedoms, and an unbiased media as a part of this imaginative and prescient.”
“Authorities have jailed the opposition … raided unbiased media organisations … weakened democratic establishments, delayed elections,” Blinken mentioned. “They’ve carried out all of this in an effort to deprive Hongkongers of what they’ve been promised.”
Saying a strict safety legislation imposed in Hong Kong by Beijing in 2020 had led to an “erosion of autonomy,” he mentioned: “We stand in solidarity with individuals in Hong Kong and reinforce their calls for his or her promised freedoms to be reinstated.”
On Thursday, Xi advised crowds in Hong Kong – throughout a extremely choreographed go to the place alternatives for dissent have been stifled and media protection closely restricted – that the area had “risen from the ashes”.
“My coronary heart and that of the central authorities have been with our compatriots in Hong Kong,” he mentioned, in response to a translation by the South China Morning Submit. “Up to now few years, Hong Kong has gone by way of varied extreme challenges one after one other, and has defeated them.
“After the wind and rain, Hong Kong has risen from the ashes, and confirmed sturdy vibrancy.
“So long as we keep on with the ‘one nation, two techniques’ framework, Hong Kong will definitely have a brighter future and can make new and greater contributions to the nice rejuvenation of the Chinese language individuals,” he mentioned.
On Friday, Xi will swear within the subsequent chief government of the territory, John Lee, a former safety head who oversaw the crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy motion.
The day started with a flag elevating ceremony on the Hong Kong Conference and Exhibition Centre. The temporary ceremony lasted about 20 minutes and passed off amid a storm warning. Whereas Hong Kong activists have rallied exterior the flag elevating ceremony previously, they had been warned by nationwide safety police to not protest this 12 months.
Xi didn’t attend the flag-raising occasion, with media reporting he stayed in a single day throughout the border in Shenzhen after arriving in Hong Kong on Thursday. He’s due again within the monetary hub early on Friday for the swearing in.
Lee has pledged to unite the town for “a brand new chapter”, whereas additionally promising an much more aggressive method to counter “fearmongering and badmouthing” by critics.
Johnson mentioned he would search to proceed to carry China to its commitments, in order that Hong Kong is “as soon as once more run by the individuals of Hong Kong, for the individuals of Hong Kong”. He mentioned Britain’s immigration route for holders of British nationwide (abroad) passports final 12 months had attracted 120,000 functions.
British international secretary Liz Truss echoed Johnson’s feedback, and mentioned: “Authorities have stifled opposition, criminalised dissent and pushed out anybody who can converse fact to energy.
“The UK’s historic dedication to Hong Kong and its individuals endures. That’s the reason we proceed to problem China for breaching the legally binding commitments it signed as much as underneath the Joint Declaration.
“We now have known as out their conduct on the world stage and stood along with our G7 companions in condemning the regular erosion of political and civil rights and Hong Kong’s autonomy.”
Australia additionally criticised China for curbing the rights and freedoms of individuals in Hong Kong.
“Australia stays deeply involved by the persevering with erosion of Hong Kong’s rights, freedoms and autonomy, two years for the reason that imposition of the Nationwide Safety Legislation,” international minister Penny Wong mentioned.
