The UK is expected to suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong on Monday In a further escalation of worsening ties with China over Beijing’s decision to impose a national security law on the territory, British newspapers reported.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will announce the suspension of the treaty in parliament, the Times and Daily Telegraph newspapers said, citing sources.
Britain’s foreign affairs office declined to comment. The United States, Australia and Canada have already decided to suspend extradition treaties with the territory, while New Zealand is reviewing its options.
The UK has been shocked by the crackdown on Hong Kong after a year of sometimes violent protests, and is also concerned about the treatment of Uighur people in the western region of Xinjiang in China.
On Sunday, Raab accused Beijing of “gross and egregious human rights abuses” in its “deeply troubling” treatment of ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang.
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China defends internment camps for Uighur Muslims |
The United Nations and human rights groups say at least one million Uighurs have been detained in camps that China describes as professional training centers that are necessary to curb “extremism.”
Raab told the BBC that reports of mass arrest and forced sterilization required international attention.
“We want a positive relationship [with China] but we cannot see such behavior and not say it, “said the foreign secretary.
End of the “golden age”
The differences between the two countries on a number of problems are a far cry from the so-called “golden age” of ties once defended by former Prime Minister David Cameron.
Last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered the Huawei Technologies team to be removed entirely from Britain’s 5G network by the end of 2027.
China has accused Britain of pleasing the United States.
Earlier Sunday, China’s ambassador to Britain warned of a harsh response if London tried to sanction any of its officials, as some have demanded.
MPs from the China Inquiry Group have written to the Foreign Secretary, asking the United Kingdom to suspend its extradition agreement with Hong Kong. pic.twitter.com/vpTf1Y5IBj
– China Research Group (@ChinaResearchGp) July 18, 2020
“If the UK government goes that far to impose sanctions on anyone in China, China will certainly give a decisive response,” Liu Xiaoming said on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show.
“You have seen what happens in the United States: they sanction Chinese officials, we sanction their senators, their officials. I don’t want to see this happen in … relations between China and the United Kingdom.”
Raab told the same program that he would not be attracted to future additions to Britain’s sanctions list, but denied that Britain is too weak to challenge China in that way.
Britain says new national security law violates agreements made before 1997 delivery of Hong Kong to the Chinese government, and that China is crushing freedoms that were supposed to remain for at least 50 years.
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