UK suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong as China tensions grow

Britain has suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and blocked arms sales to the Chinese special administrative region in response to Beijing's controversial national security law.

A pedestrian walks past a closed shop in Hong Kong, 20 July 2020. AFP

Calling the measures “reasonable and proportionate”, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Monday told parliament he had concerns about the new security law as well as alleged human rights abuses, especially those of the minority Muslim Uighur community.

“We will protect our vital interests,'' Raab told parliament. “We will stand up for our values and we will hold to China to its international obligations,'' he added.

Britain’s announcement comes as the United States, Australia and Canada suspended extradition with Hong Kong. Australia has said it would extend visas for Hong Kong nationals and Britain has offered Hong Kongers an option to come to Britain with the possibility of a path to citizenship.

According to the UK, China has gone against the Sino-British Joint Declaration that gave control of Hong Kong to China in 1997.

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China objects

Although there was already an arms embargo in place for the past 31 years, Britain will now allow no exports of weapons that could be potentially lethal.

China’s Huawei telecommunications company was initially earmarked to play a role in the UK beefing up its mobile phone network and provide 5G, but given the rising tensions between Beijing and London, this was scrapped by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

It's sensible to cease extradition policies with #HongKong. The new law poses great threat to everyone in the world. Those to come to #HongKong might get arrested once they arrive, if they expressed views that are deemed to be subverting the state and contravening the law pic.twitter.com/Kgahctvkbb

— 弱水三千 (@kitschpetpeeve) July 20, 2020

China’s ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming told BBC that Britain’s actions were “gross interference” in Chinese affairs, and that Britain was simply toeing the US line.

“China has not changed. It’s Western countries, headed by United States. They started this so-called new Cold War on China," he said.