Britain, EU, Join U.S. In Condemning China’s Crackdown On Hong Kong Lawmakers

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Pro-democracy lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting hangs banners during a session at the Legislative Council outside of the main chamber on Thursday in Hong Kong. Fifteen pro-democracy lawmakers resigned en masse after four colleagues were disqualified from serving.

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Asia
Hong Kong’s Pro-Democracy Lawmakers Quit Legislature Over Ouster Of Colleagues

The resolution effectively gives Beijing veto power over who sits in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, or Legco, and the mass resignation of the opposition leaves the assembly with no dissenting voices.

London on Thursday accused China of breaching the agreement that laid the groundwork for the handover of Hong Kong nearly a quarter century ago. The Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed in 1984, spelled out the «one country, two systems philosophy meant to afford the former British colony a large measure of autonomy.

The U.K.’s minister for Asia, Nigel Adams, told parliament that London was considering sanctions against individuals in China. «It’s not entirely appropriate to speculate who may be designated under the sanctions regime in the future as that could reduce the impact, but we are carefully considering further designations under the scheme.

The EU on Thursday called Beijing’s move a «severe blow to Hong Kong’s autonomy and called for the resolution to be immediately reversed.

«This latest arbitrary decision from Beijing further significantly undermines Hong Kong ‘s autonomy under the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ principle, the EU’s 27 governments said in a statement. «These latest steps constitute a further severe blow to political pluralism and freedom of opinion in Hong Kong, they said.

U.S. National Security Advisor Robert C. O’Brien on Wednesday also criticized the move, saying in a statement: «‘One Country, Two Systems’ is now merely a fig leaf covering for the CCP’s expanding one party dictatorship in Hong Kong, referring to China’s Communist Party.

On Monday, the Trump administration announced sanctions on four additional Chinese officials in response to the national security law.

Asia
China Threatens Response After U.S. Sanctions Over Crackdown On Hong Kong

In July, the Trump administration signed legislation and an executive order sanctioning Beijing for its national security law.

«Hong Kong will now be treated the same as mainland China, Trump said at the time. «No special privileges, no special economic treatment and no export of sensitive technologies.

On Monday after Beijing’s implementation of the national security , Washington added two more individuals to its China sanctions list

The 15 remaining opposition lawmakers walked out of the chamber on Thursday. In an act of defiance, one of them unfurled a banner saying of the city’s Beijing-appointed leader, Carrie Lam, that she will «stink for 10,000 years. Lam has defended the ouster of the four legislators as lawful.

Beijing’s liaison office called the mass walkout a «farce and said it demonstrated the lawmakers’ «stubborn resistance to China’s authority.

«Opposition lawmakers have used their public post as a tool of political manipulation, a spokesperson said for China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said. «If these lawmakers hope to make use of their resignation to provoke radical opposition and beg for foreign interference, they have miscalculated.

Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai said the resignations wouldn’t officially take effect until Dec. 1. «This is for us to handle the dismissal of our staff members and assistants, he said.

Last year, major protests in Hong Kong erupted over a proposed extradition bill that would have allowed some people accused of crimes in the territory to be transferred to mainland China to face courts there. The bill was later withdrawn, but Beijing later approved a sweeping national security law that provides for harsh penalties for supporting secession, subversion of state power, terrorism or collusion with foreign entities.