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Theresa May
Hong KongPolitics

Patten and Ashdown call on UK PM Theresa May to speak up for Hong Kong during China trip

Former governor and fellow peer decry ‘increasing threats to the basic freedoms, human rights and autonomy’ in city

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Theresa May will visit China from January 31 to February 2. Photo: Reuters
Su Xinqi

The last British governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten on Monday urged his prime minister to speak up for the city during her first state visit to China, saying the former colony faced increasing threats to “basic freedoms, human rights and autonomy”.

In a letter sent to Theresa May, Patten and his fellow British peer Paddy Ashdown encouraged her to insist on “the continued validity of the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the principles of ‘one country, two systems’” during her meetings with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders.
Chris Patten was the last colonial governor of Hong Kong. Photo: Handout
Chris Patten was the last colonial governor of Hong Kong. Photo: Handout
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“In the past five years Hong Kong has seen increasing threats to the basic freedoms, human rights and autonomy which the people were promised at the handover just over 20 years ago,” Patten and Ashdown wrote.

They said the UK should not shirk its responsibility to Hong Kong while building ties with China, which May will visit from January 31 to February 2.

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“We hope that ... you will be able to provide the people of Hong Kong with some assurance that our developing relationship with China, vital though it is, will not come at the cost of our obligation to them,” the letter read.

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