Britain should stop its hypocritical 6-monthly report on Hong Kong
- Both the UK and China have likely breached the Joint Declaration. As the treaty has no enforcement or dispute provisions, they should suspend it under international law once and for all
Be that as it may, it’s high time the world acknowledged the British exercise for what it is: the weaponisation of human rights as part of the West’s information warfare against China.
First of all, whatever you think about the status of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, there is nothing in it that says a report every six months is warranted. Why not make it every year, two years or not at all? The British side simply made this reporting up.
The British say the Chinese have breached the Joint Declaration. The Chinese say it’s none of their business as it’s their internal affair.
For the sake of argument, let’s agree that the treaty is still in full force and legally binding under international law. What does that actually mean? Well, both sides have a good case that the other has breached the treaty. How and why?
It’s usually argued that China is breaching the “basic rights and freedoms” guaranteed under Section 13 of Annex 1 of the Joint Declaration. This is often summed up by British leaders as undermining “the high degree of autonomy” promised in the treaty for 50 years.