Hong Kong opposes UK and US report on city’s deteriorating political and legal situation – National
Hong Kong‘s authorities mentioned on Friday it rejected “unfounded and ridiculous” allegations made in coverage reviews from Britain and america of a deteriorating political and authorized scenario because of the metropolis’s sweeping nationwide safety regulation.
America and Britain launched strongly-worded reviews on Thursday detailing considerations about an erosion of freedoms within the international monetary hub and the stifling of dissent within the metropolis’s legislature, civil society and media.
The reviews come after two senior British judges resigned from Hong Kong’s highest court docket on Wednesday due to the nationwide safety regulation which punishes offences corresponding to subversion with as much as life imprisonment.
Hong Kong chief Carrie Lam known as the resignations “politically motivated”, whereas China blamed it on “British strain”.
“We strongly oppose the unfounded and ridiculous allegations in opposition to the Hong Kong particular administrative area’s authorities made by overseas nations by way of varied reviews,” Hong Kong’s authorities mentioned in an announcement.
“The federal government urges overseas nations to cease interfering into the inner affairs of China by way of Hong Kong affairs.”
The UK report mentioned it was not tenable for serving UK judges to sit down on Hong Kong’s prime court docket, citing that town’s political and authorized scenario “has now deteriorated past the purpose the place it’s acceptable for serving UK judges to participate”.
British judges have lengthy served among the many overseas jurists appointed to the CFA, an association put in place previous to Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997 to take care of confidence in a separate authorized system extensively seen because the bedrock of town’s social and business freedoms.
Ten different overseas judges are nonetheless serving the Hong Kong court docket, six of whom are retired British jurists, one Canadian and three Australians.
Enterprise individuals and diplomats are watching significantly intently, given the significance of authorized independence to Hong Kong’s standing as a worldwide monetary hub.
The variations between Hong Kong and cities in mainland China are “shrinking on account of ongoing repression from the Individuals’s Republic of China,” Antony Blinken, U.S. secretary of state, mentioned within the report.
Hong Kong’s authorities mentioned it was happy with its “unwavering dedication” to the rule of regulation and an impartial judiciary.
It mentioned it was firmly dedicated to safeguarding press and speech freedoms, with the media in a position to monitor the federal government’s work and criticise insurance policies so long as it was not “in violation of the regulation.”
(Reporting by Farah Grasp; Modifying by Anne Marie Roantree and Michael Perry)
