The UK is expected to suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong, a former colony that returned to China in 1997, according to multiple reports.
The news will come from UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab during a speech to Parliament on Monday, and will take place on the same day that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet in London. to meet with UK lawmakers.
Raab’s comments, although not publicly confirmed by the British government, will follow in the footsteps of allies such as the United States, Canada and Australia.
The US State Department said last week that the nation’s top diplomat will meet with his British counterpart on Monday to discuss a number of issues, including the Hong Kong issue.
China has faced considerable criticism in recent months for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic and its drive to weaken Hong Kong’s autonomy from the communist nation.
Last month, China passed a forceful and contentious national security law that allowed authorities to crack down on subversive and secessionist activity in Hong Kong.
The law has been criticized by many in the West as the Chinese Communist Party’s boldest effort to date to crack down on the territory, which has maintained a semi-autonomous system separate from that of mainland China.
Protests for democracy gripped Hong Kong for almost a year and left the former British colony in a tense power struggle with the CCP.
This latest legislation was passed amid warnings both in Hong Kong and internationally that it would be used to curb opposition voices in the Asian financial center.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, Raab discussed his plans in this regard.
“In Hong Kong, I am going to the House of Commons tomorrow to make a new statement about the work we have been doing with our partners in government,” he told the network.
“I have said that we would review a whole range of other considerations. One of the things we review is our extradition arrangements, and I will be updating the Chamber at the conclusion of that review, along with other things that we have been looking at tomorrow, ”he continued.
In response to Raab’s efforts, China’s ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming warned the United Kingdom not to follow the United States’ example while speaking to the BBC on Sunday.
“If the UK government goes that far to impose sanctions on anyone in China, China will certainly give a decisive response,” Liu said.
“You have seen what happened between China and the United States. Chinese officials were sanctioned; we sanction its senators, its officials. I don’t want to see this happen between China and the United States in relations between China and the United Kingdom, ”he added.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in early June that the UK would admit 3 million British national passport holders from the former British colony, after the passage of the national security law. He said there are around 350,000 passport holders in Hong Kong and 2.5 million are eligible to apply for one.
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