Britain is considering pulling its judges out of Hong Kong’s highest court, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Dominic Raab said on Monday, in London’s latest response to what it considers China’s breaches of its international obligations in the territory.
Britain, which ruled Hong Kong for more than 150 years until it handed it back to China in 1997, says that the new National Security Law imposed on the territory by Beijing just before midnight on June 30 was a breach of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration that paved the way for the handover.
London has also objected to new rules imposed by mainland China to disqualify elected legislators in Hong Kong, and to what it describes as retribution by the territory’s executive against political opposition and silencing of dissent.
Photo: Reuters
“This has been, and continues to be, the most concerning period in Hong Kong’s post-handover history,” Raab wrote in his foreword to the latest in a regular series of six-monthly reports on Hong Kong. “I have begun consultations with Lord Reed, president of the UK Supreme Court, concerning when to review whether it continues to be appropriate for British judges to sit as non-permanent judges on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.”
The presence of foreign judges in Hong Kong is enshrined in the Basic Law, the mini-constitution that guarantees the global financial hub’s freedoms and extensive autonomy under Chinese rule, including the continuation of Hong Kong’s common law traditions forged during the British colonial era.
The Hong Kong government hit back at what it described as “sweeping attacks and groundless accusations” in the report, adding that they were “irresponsible remarks.”
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ commission in Hong Kong expressed “strong indignation” at the report, the Xinhua news agency reported.
“Wake up and stop the old colonial dream of interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs,” it quoted a representative as saying.
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