Clash with China: Britain suspended the extradition treaty with Hong Kong and canceled arms exports

Maria Laura Avignolo

07/20/2020 - 16:03

• Clarín.com
• World

After Huawei, the kingdom immediately ended the extradition treaty with Hong Kong for political reasons. Tensions between Britain and China are not stopped by the pandemic and because of the security law that the Beijing government imposed to suppress democratic dissent in the former British colony, covered by the coronavirus. Foreign Minister Dominic Raab announced it in the House of Commons on Monday, along with "the cancellation of the export permit for lethal weapons , their components and ammunition to Hong Kong."

"Given the role that China has assumed in internal security in Hong Kong and the authority it is exercising over law enforcement, Britain is going to extend to Hong Kong the arms embargo that it has applied to China since 1989," he said. the British Chancellor.

The lethal equipment Britain was selling could be used in internal repression, including handcuffs, interception technology, weapons and grenades, which were included in the embargo.

Raab considered it a "dual measure and an appropriate response to national security legislation" that China imposed on the former British colony when the world was fighting the pandemic. Tough legislation against democratic dissent.

"We have been clear about the new national security law that China has imposed on the people of Hong Kong. A clear and serious violation of the Joint Declaration of China and Great Britain and with it, a violation of the obligations that China assumed internationally, "Foreign Minister Raab explained to British lawmakers.

No one knows even when the legislation will begin to apply in the former British colony: "Britain is watching and the world is watching," he said.

In the suspension of the extradition treaty with Hong Kong for political reasons, there are fears that China will invent other charges in order to extradite dissidents taking refuge in Britain, where they have begun to arrive.

But Raab's language was also careful with China, which has called repeatedly since Huawei's ban, not to retaliate. The chancellor recognized "the remarkable success of liberating millions of his own people from poverty" and paid tribute to his science, technology and renewable sectors.

Raab made clear that the kingdom is looking with "grave concern" at the "serious human rights abuses" of Muslim Uyghures taking place in Xinjiang, northwest China.

Along with the opposition, the Conservative government called on Australia and Canada to join the arms embargo against China and will likely ask Germany to join. Other retaliations could include banning British Communist Party officials from entering Britain.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson prefers "a balance" in the relationship between China and Britain. "We are not going to be pressured into a position that becomes an anti-synophobic knee, which is automatically anti-China," said Boris, who was formerly chancellor.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who urged the British government to sever relations with Huawei, will meet Boris Johnson and Chancellor Raab in London on Tuesday.