UK House of Common Raises Concerns on the Severe Downturn in Hong Kong’s Situation. Minister of State for Asia Refuses to Comment on the Freezing of Former HK Legislative Councillor Ted Hui’s HSBC Bank Accounts
The House of Common of the British Parliament hosted an urgent inquiry on the imprisonment of Demosisto’s Secretary-General Joshua Wong, Chairperson Ivan Lam, and party member Agnes Chow on 7th December. Responding on behalf of the UK government, Minister of State for Asia Nigel Adams expressed his concerns on the issue of Hong Kong and the series of cases targeting pro-democratic activists, including the arrest of the three youngsters mentioned above and the media mogul Jimmy Lai from Next Media.
Adams had already expressed his concerns for the aforementioned cases to the Hong Kong government as well as to Beijing senior officials, asking them to adhere to their international obligation. At the time of the inquiry, there were judges from UK’s Supreme Court amongst the group of overseas judges at Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal. Adams reiterated that UK judges had always played an important role in supporting judicial independence in Hong Kong, and that this independence was key in the success of Hong Kong. As a result, the UK government had wished to carry on in this aspect. However, the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law in July had brought up real problems and contradicted with China’s promise to protect Hong Kong’s fundamental rights and freedom under the Sino-British Joint Declaration. UK’s Supreme Court had been in constant communication with the UK government, examining the situation in Hong Kong and the stand from UK judges.
Parliament members questioned Adams why the UK government was not doing more when the situation in Hong Kong was becoming increasingly severe. They used the freezing of the bank accounts of former Hong Kong LegCo member Ted Hui as an example, suggesting that the UK government could perform countermeasures and sanction Beijing’s banks in return. In his response, Adams reiterated the government’s original stand, stating that he would not comment on individual cases and believed the business community would have their own judgement on Hong Kong’s situation under the newly imposed National Security Law.
Dissatisfied with the response from Adams, former Conservative Party Leader Iain Duncan Smith described the freezing of the bank accounts of Ted Hui and his family as an “outrage”, and that the UK government should stop these actions at once. However, Adams still did not respond directly but reiterated instead that China had made historical promises and would like to see China adhere to those promises.
#UK #China #HongKong #UKParliament #HouseofCommon #TedHui #BankAccountFrozen #Demosisto #JimmyLai #JoshuaWong #IvanLam #AgnesChow #NigelAdams #HongKongNationalSecurityLaw #CourtofFinalAppeal #SupremeCourt
Source: Stand News #Dec08
https://bit.ly/30VTC2x
The House of Common of the British Parliament hosted an urgent inquiry on the imprisonment of Demosisto’s Secretary-General Joshua Wong, Chairperson Ivan Lam, and party member Agnes Chow on 7th December. Responding on behalf of the UK government, Minister of State for Asia Nigel Adams expressed his concerns on the issue of Hong Kong and the series of cases targeting pro-democratic activists, including the arrest of the three youngsters mentioned above and the media mogul Jimmy Lai from Next Media.
Adams had already expressed his concerns for the aforementioned cases to the Hong Kong government as well as to Beijing senior officials, asking them to adhere to their international obligation. At the time of the inquiry, there were judges from UK’s Supreme Court amongst the group of overseas judges at Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal. Adams reiterated that UK judges had always played an important role in supporting judicial independence in Hong Kong, and that this independence was key in the success of Hong Kong. As a result, the UK government had wished to carry on in this aspect. However, the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law in July had brought up real problems and contradicted with China’s promise to protect Hong Kong’s fundamental rights and freedom under the Sino-British Joint Declaration. UK’s Supreme Court had been in constant communication with the UK government, examining the situation in Hong Kong and the stand from UK judges.
Parliament members questioned Adams why the UK government was not doing more when the situation in Hong Kong was becoming increasingly severe. They used the freezing of the bank accounts of former Hong Kong LegCo member Ted Hui as an example, suggesting that the UK government could perform countermeasures and sanction Beijing’s banks in return. In his response, Adams reiterated the government’s original stand, stating that he would not comment on individual cases and believed the business community would have their own judgement on Hong Kong’s situation under the newly imposed National Security Law.
Dissatisfied with the response from Adams, former Conservative Party Leader Iain Duncan Smith described the freezing of the bank accounts of Ted Hui and his family as an “outrage”, and that the UK government should stop these actions at once. However, Adams still did not respond directly but reiterated instead that China had made historical promises and would like to see China adhere to those promises.
#UK #China #HongKong #UKParliament #HouseofCommon #TedHui #BankAccountFrozen #Demosisto #JimmyLai #JoshuaWong #IvanLam #AgnesChow #NigelAdams #HongKongNationalSecurityLaw #CourtofFinalAppeal #SupremeCourt
Source: Stand News #Dec08
https://bit.ly/30VTC2x