British MPs call for sanctions on Hong Kong, Chinese officials over breaches of handover agreement

Name: A look back at Hong Kong 25 years since the handover
Uploaded: 2022-06-29T15:12:07.000Z
Duration: 9 min 49 s
Description: A look back at Hong Kong 25 years since the handover

Backbenchers question why Britain has not joined the US in imposing sanctions over the national security law and other challenges to Hong Kong’s autonomy

British government has faced criticism for its speed in introducing sanctions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this year

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Union Jack flags are seen in front of the Elizabeth Tower, known as Big Ben, beside the Houses of Parliament in London. Photo: AP

Chad Brayin London

Published: 11:12pm, 29 Jun 2022Updated: 6:46pm, 30 Jun 2022

A group of British lawmakers have called on the government to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials who they say have undermined freedoms guaranteed under a treaty that resulted in Hong Kong’s handover to Chinese control a quarter-century ago.

Iain Duncan Smith, a Conservative member of Parliament who himself has been sanctioned by Beijing, said the British government needed to take further action to hold China to account for the continuing breaches of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong, including Beijing’s imposition of the controversial national security law for the city two years ago, and a crackdown on some media outlets and dissidents in the city.

“My government needs to do much much more,” Smith said during a debate in Westminster Hall on Wednesday. “I am sorry that I should be saying this now, but this is a damnation of the Foreign Office’s capabilities and their failure to act. Yet again, time after time, we tiptoe around these issues instead of confronting them.”

The British government has declared that China is in noncompliance with the Joint Declaration, which guaranteed “a high degree of autonomy,” except when it comes to defense or foreign affairs, for the city for 50 years.

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A look back at Hong Kong 25 years since the handover

Signed in 1984, the agreement returned Hong Kong to Chinese authority and underpinned the concept of “one country, two systems”, under which the city’s society, economic system and freedoms would remain unchanged until 2047.

British MPs call for sanctions on Hong Kong, Chinese officials over breaches of handover agreement

Backbenchers question why Britain has not joined the US in imposing sanctions over the national security law and other challenges to Hong Kong’s autonomy British government has faced criticism for its speed in introducing sanctions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this year

Backbenchers question why Britain has not joined the US in imposing sanctions over the national security law and other challenges to Hong Kong’s autonomy

British government has faced criticism for its speed in introducing sanctions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this year