Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has been told to stop interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs by Beijing after calling for an independent investigation into recent violence in the region.
Mr Raab spoke with Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam and stressed the need for “meaningful political dialogue, and a fully independent investigation into recent events as a way to build trust” in the territory.
The former British colony has been the site of widespread protests in recent months which began with a campaign against a controversial extradition bill and has gone on to include a push for electoral reforms in the Chinese territory.
Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said the days where Britain ruled Hong Kong were “long gone”.
She told reporters: “The UK has no sovereignty, jurisdiction or right of supervision over Hong Kong.
“Affairs of Hong Kong brook no foreign interference.
“It is simply wrong for the British government to directly call Hong Kong’s Chief Executive to exert pressure.
“The Chinese side seriously urges the UK to stop its interference in China’s internal affairs and stop making random and inflammatory accusations on Hong Kong.”
Protesters raised the old British colonial flag in the Hong Kong legislative chamber on the 22nd anniversary of the territory’s return to Chinese rule as part of the protests.
Police used tear gas against activists who had occupied the legislative council building and painted pro-democracy slogans on the walls.
The territory’s leader, Carrie Lam, condemned the “extreme use of violence and vandalism” by protesters.
Speaking about the call between Mr Raab and Ms Lam on Friday, a spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “The Foreign Secretary underlined the strength of the relationship between the UK and Hong Kong, noting our support for Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy as provided for in the Joint Declaration and our commitment to the principle of ‘One country, Two systems’.
“The Foreign Secretary condemned violent acts by all sides but emphasised the right to peaceful protest, noting that hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong people had chosen this route to express their views.
“He underlined that the violence should not cloud the lawful actions of the majority.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel