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The UK’s relationship with China could worsen further when London announced on Monday that an extradition treaty with Hong Kong was being frozen in protest of a controversial new security law imposed on the former British colony in Beijing.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed a long-awaited parliamentary move, despite China’s warnings that Britain is making a serious foreign policy error and may receive a response.
He also announced that the “potentially lethal weapons” embargo imposed on mainland China for the past three decades will also extend to semi-autonomous Hong Kong.
Diplomatic relations between London and Beijing have deteriorated as a result of Hong Kong’s security law, according to western states that undermine civil liberties and human rights at the international financial center.
China threatened to take unidentified retaliatory measures as Britain made it easier for Hong Kong residents to obtain foreign passports from the United Kingdom and possibly paved the way for the country to acquire citizenship.
Tensions have also been intensified by criticism of China’s treatment of the Uighur ethnic minority by the United Kingdom, as well as by the decision to remove Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from 5G communications development projects in Britain.
Raab said Britain wanted constructive ties to China and recognized the “extraordinary transformation” of the country’s role on the world stage.
However, he noted that a positive relationship with a state that has international obligations as an international actor also includes the right to object.
The new security law “has significantly changed the essential provisions underpinning our extradition treaty,” in particular the provision that some cases may be transferred to mainland China, Raab said.
The legislation does not provide legal or judicial guarantees, and its potential use on former British property abroad is cause for concern, the head of diplomacy added.
“The government decided to suspend the extradition treaty immediately and indefinitely,” he said.
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