China Used Hong Kong Security Law to "Drastically Curtail Freedom": UK Report

British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said the national security law China imposed on Hong Kong in June last year was being used to stifle political opposition.

Beijing has broken its legal obligations by undermining Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy and used a national security law to "drastically curtail freedoms" in the global financial hub, according to a report by Britain on its former colony. In a foreword in the six-monthly report covering July-December 2020, British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said a sweeping national security law Beijing imposed on the city in June last year was being used to stifle political opposition. There had been "clear breaches" of the 1984 Joint Declaration, signed by then Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that guaranteed wide-ranging freedoms for Hong Kong, Raab said. The report criticised Beijing's overhaul of Hong Kong's electoral system, prosecution decisions made by the Department of Justice and the contentious security law.