China has " taken advantage " of the coronavirus pandemic to " harass " other countries and impose its new national security law in Hong Kong, said ex-former British colony governor Chris Patten on Wednesday.
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" What happened in Hong Kong is only part of a larger series of actions by the Chinese Communist Party to take advantage of the fact that we are focused on the coronavirus, " said Chris Patten, who ruled Hong Kong for the five years preceding the handover to China in 1997.
" From India (...) to Canada "
" From India to Japan (...), from Australia to Canada, the Chinese have carried out harassment actions around the world, " said Chris Patten, currently chancellor of the University of Oxford, during an online conference hosted by British MPs. " We have to learn to contain China when it behaves badly, " he added.
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His statements come two days after the Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom denounced Boris Johnson's decision to facilitate Hong Kong access to British citizenship, accusing London of Beijing's " gross interference in internal affairs ". London denounced the national security law as a “ manifest violation ” of the autonomy enjoyed by its former colony.
The national security law, promulgated at the end of June after a wave of protests for liberties in Hong Kong, plans to punish separatist, " terrorist " activities, subversion, or even foreign interference in the Chinese autonomous territory.
Brian Leung, a pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong currently studying political science in Seattle (northwest of the United States), said the extent of the new Chinese legislation has sown " terror ". " This conversation could put me at criminal risk where I would risk life in prison ," he told British MPs. " The obvious purpose of this law is to spread terror and fear, not only domestically but also internationally, so that people outside of Hong Kong do not speak up. "