British PM hopeful Jeremy Hunt urges Xi Jinping to keep Hong Kong’s freedoms

Britain’s foreign secretary has said that Chinese President Xi Jinping should “let it be” and allow Hong Kong’s freedoms to be preserved, adding that his heart goes out to the protesters who stormed the city’s legislature on Monday.

Commenting hours after a violent takeover of the Legislative Council building by mostly young protesters, Jeremy Hunt said he understood their worries about “changes happening in Hong Kong”.

“When I look at those situations, those terrible scenes in Hong Kong, my heart goes out to people who do have to fight for their freedoms and who are worried they could lose their very, very precious way of life,” Hunt, a Tory leadership hopeful who is vying to be Britain’s next prime minister, said on Sky television.

“What I would say to President Xi is: ‘Look at how special Hong Kong is,’” Hunt said. “This city of just 7 million people, a fraction the size of China, and yet one of the world’s great centres of enterprise. It’s because of that special mix in its history of British and Chinese influence – and let it be.

“It says so much for China if it’s prepared to allow Hong Kong to operate under a different system with those basic democratic freedoms. I think that should stay.”

The latest Hong Kong protests coincided with the 22nd anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China.

Hunt stressed that the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration – which guaranteed the “one country, two systems” principle under which Beijing promised Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy – remained effective.

“I really hope that there aren’t changes in Hong Kong that undermine that agreement, which is a legally binding agreement,” he said. “We stand behind what was in that agreement. We stand behind the freedoms that are enshrined. And we stand behind the people of Hong Kong.”

Earlier on Monday, China’s foreign ministry said that Britain no longer had any responsibility for Hong Kong and needed to stop “gesticulating” about its former colony.

“Recently Britain has continuously gesticulated about Hong Kong, flagrantly interfering. We are extremely dissatisfied with this and resolutely opposed,” ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.

“We urge Britain to know its place and stop interfering in any form in Hong Kong matters and do more for its prosperity and stability rather than the opposite,” he added.

China announced two years ago that it considered the joint declaration to be a historical document that no longer had any practical significance.