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Richard Ottaway, chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said "a troubling pattern has begun to emerge" in the way Beijing governs Hong Kong. Photo: AFP

UK lawmakers push London to get tough with China over Hong Kong autonomy

London should step up pressure on Beijing and take a tougher stance in defence of Hong Kong autonomy, a group of British lawmakers studying the city’s affairs concluded in a report published on Friday.

London should step up pressure on Beijing and take a tougher stance in defence of Hong Kong autonomy, a group of British lawmakers studying the city’s affairs concluded in a report published on Friday morning.

The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, which launched the inquiry to howls of protest from Beijing last year, also acknowledges that Hongkongers’ calls for greater democracy are “more than an abstract concern”.

And it rejects the idea that Beijing’s framework for the 2017 chief executive poll – under which the public could from choose two or three candidates picked by a nominating committee – would in “any meaningful sense” offer “genuine choice” to voters.

The findings come after months of controversy over the inquiry, including a diplomatic spat between Beijing and London over whether the lawmakers would be allowed to visit Hong Kong; they ultimately stayed away.

The committee reiterates that Britain, as a co-signatory of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, “has both a moral responsibility and a legal right to monitor China’s fulfilment of its obligations to Hong Kong” – a position Beijing repeatedly disputed. In December, Hong Kong constitutional affairs minister Raymond Tam Chi-yuen also said that Britain had “no moral duty” to Hong Kong after 1997.

But the committee said Britain’s Foreign Office should make Britain’s responsibility to its former colony clear to Beijing and Hong Kong “at every level”. Britain’s prime minister should “emphasis both publicly and privately…that the UK is committed to this position” during the expected state visit by President Xi Jinping this year.

Under Britain’s parliamentary system, committees scrutinise the work of government departments but have no formal powers to dictate policy or initiate legislation. British ministers have been reluctant to step in to the row over Hong Kong’s democratic reforms as they seek mainland Chinese investment to bolster the country’s economic recovery.

Committee chairman Richard Ottaway, a member of Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party, said: “A troubling pattern has begun to emerge: from last year’s State Council white paper, to the restrictive electoral proposals for 2017, to reports of press freedom under attack.

“The fact that China banned our committee from visiting Hong Kong in connection with this inquiry is also indicative of this trend.”

Sir Richard said the committee was “profoundly disappointed” with the British government’s “mild response” to the visit-ban incident.

The committee also criticised the Foreign Office for having “stopped some way short of expressing a clear view” over the pace and degree of Hong Kong’s democratisation process.

Beijing’s framework for the 2017 poll was “unduly restrictive”, the committee said as it urged London to “take an unambiguous position on its expectations for constitutional reform”.

“We do not consider that the terms of [Beijing’s framework] offer genuine choice in any meaningful sense of the phrase, nor do we consider the decision consistent with the principle that Hong Kong should enjoy a high degree of autonomy,” the committee report says.

The inquiry was launched in July, sparking warnings from Beijing that ties between the two nations were at risk if the lawmakers continued their activities. It was set up after Beijing published a controversial white paper emphasising its authority over the city and warning against interference by “foreign forces”.

Hong Kong attracted more international attention after Beijing sets its ground rules for electoral reforms, which triggered the Occupy Central protests that saw roads in Mong Kok, Admiralty, and Causeway Bay taken over by protesters for as long as 79 days until mid-December.

Committee members had intended to visit Hong Kong in December but were forced to scrap the plan because Beijing told the members they would be denied visas.

The Foreign Office minister responsible for Hong Kong affairs, Hugo Swire, was also denied meetings with Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and other senior government officials during a visit in early January.

Beijing’s actions towards the lawmakers were “wholly contrary to the spirit of the Joint Declaration”, the report says.

The British government produces a six-monthly report on Hong Kong’s situation. But the committee said the reports offered ambiguous narratives of events and lacked in-depth analysis of the political, social and economic implications of the events.

During the inquiry, the committee took oral evidence from more than 20 individuals and British officials. It also received more than 750 submissions, mostly by Hong Kong people or groups.

The release of the report is expected to spark an outcry from Beijing.

Avery Ng Man-yuen, vice-chairman of the League of Social Democrats, who flew to London in December to testify, said: “I hope the report will pressure the British government to stand up for Hong Kong. But I don’t know if that will happen for sure.”

“It is ironic that the report is such a stark contrast to what Hugo Swire has said,” added Ng. Swire has earlier urged Hong Kong pan-democrats to look at Beijing’s proposal, saying having something is better than the status quo.

“I don’t think Beijing will be afraid of the report…but I think that the British government needs to take concrete diplomatic actions against Beijing in order to help Hong Kong,” added Ng.

Among others who have also testified at the inquiry hearings included former Hong Kong governor Lord Patten, former South China Morning Post editor Jonathan Fenby, and Civic Party leader Alan Leong Kah-kit.

Beijing and London signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984, setting out terms of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule in 1997.

In a statement issued this morning, the Hong Kong government said it was committed to implementing universal suffrage for the chief executive election in 2017 in accordance with the Basic Law and the decision of the National People’s Congress’ standing committee last August. It hoped different sectors of the community could discuss in a rational and pragmatic manner and forge consensus under the framework allowed.

On freedom of expression and freedom of the press, the spokesman said they were guaranteed by the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance, and the government supported the principle of editorial autonomy.  

Hong Kong 2020, a think tank led by former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang, who was among the hearing witnesses, applauded the report’s conclusion that Britain has an enduring moral responsibility over the implementation of the Joint Declaration and the call upon London to continue to monitor closely the preservation of the rights, freedoms and way of life that underpin Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy under "one country, two systems".

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