During a June 11 news conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin addressed the U.K. government’s latest on Hong Kong, released the previous day.
Wang said the report is “full of ideological bias” and a continuation of the U.K.’s “moves to confound right with wrong and distort facts.”
“The groundless accusations against China's policies in Hong Kong made by [U.K.] Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in the foreword of the report again constitute gross interference in Hong Kong affairs and China's domestic affairs. We strongly condemn and firmly oppose this,” he said.
Wang reaffirmed that Hong Kong is part of China under its “One Country, Two Systems” rubric. He said that Hong Kong continued to be governed in accordance with China’s constitution and that “a high degree of autonomy has been earnestly implemented.”
“Hong Kong residents' lawful rights and freedoms have been fully guaranteed according to law,” Wang said.” These are undeniable facts. Everything we've done, whether it's the promulgation of the Law on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong SAR or improving Hong Kong's electoral system, is aimed to uphold and improve the One Country, Two Systems institution.”
Wang’s claim that freedoms have been “fully guaranteed” and that accusations in the report are “groundless” is false.
In fact, Beijing’s recent moves have undermined the terms of the treaty under which Hong Kong was to come under Chinese sovereignty, along with the freedoms that Hong Kongers previously enjoyed.
First, some history. In 1984, the U.K. and People’s Republic of China signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which for Beijing to regain sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997 after more than a century of British colonial rule.
The document, which provided for a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) under the authority of the People’s Republic of China, granted Hong Kong “a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defense affairs.”
Point five of the document : “The current social and economic systems in Hong Kong will remain unchanged, and so will the life-style. Rights and freedoms, including those of the person, of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of travel, of movement, of correspondence, of strike, of choice of occupation, of academic research and of religious belief will be ensured by law in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Private property, ownership of enterprises, legitimate right of inheritance and foreign investment will be protected by law.”
In line with China's “One Country, Two Systems” principle, which theoretically allows Hong Kong to maintain its own systems of law, governance, economy and finance, the policies of the joint declaration were to “remain unchanged for 50 years.”
The bilateral treaty was registered with the United Nations on June 12, 1985. The U.K. views the agreement as legally binding under international law, although it concedes the “treaty contains no enforcement or dispute provisions.”
Still, the it has “an obligation and a right” to monitor the treaty’s implementation “closely.” The U.K.’s latest Six-monthly Report is the 48th in a series of monitoring missives sent to the Parliament and says China is “in a state of ongoing non-compliance with the Joint Declaration.”
By contrast, in 2017 the treaty was “a historical document” that “no longer has any practical significance” nor is “binding for the central government’s management over Hong Kong."
In the Six-monthly Report, which covers July-December 2020, Raab said the U.K. had “seen three clear breaches of the Joint Declaration in the last year,” one of which fell outside of the reporting period.
The first breach was declared on July 1, 2020, after China imposed a new National Security Law (NSL) that criminalizes four categories of activities — secession, subversion of state power, terrorism and collusion with foreign entities. The law also gives authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing wide latitude to control the internet, media outlets, schools and other groups.
The U.K.-based rights group Amnesty International that under the law, anything can be viewed as a national security threat. the BBC, damaging public transportation facilities could be viewed as terrorism.
Transportation disruptions, including the deflation of bus tires, was demonstrators used during 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests. But Amnesty also documented arrests for peaceful activities like “possessing flags, stickers and banners with political slogans.”