Beijing/London: China today lambasted the United Kingdom (UK) for trying to turn many Hong Kong residents into “second-class citizens” in the UK in disregard of the Beijing’s stern position and in flagrant violation of the international commitment. Beijing charged the the UK was working to “reap benefit from this”.
It may be mentioned that in its latest six-monthly report on Hong Kong, the UK had said that end of September, over 80,000 people from Hong Kong had applied for visas under relevant scheme. The report had claimed that Beijing and Hong Kong had used the national security law that was published over one year ago against all opposition in Hong Kong and asked China to fulfill legal obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian today said that it was “hypocritical and unavailing” for the UK to play up this issue in an attempt to seek political manipulation. “China does not recognize BN(O) [British National 9Overseas)] passports as valid travel and identity documents. We ask the UK to redress its mistake immediately. Otherwise, the stone it has lifted will only end up hurting its own toes,” he said.
Lijian further said that the UK is obsessed with issuing the” so-called” semi-annual reports to attack and smear China and interfere in Hong Kong affairs out of ideological bias. “China strongly deplores and firmly rejects this,he said.
China stressed that since the Law on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong SAR took effect over one year ago, “Hong Kong has embraced the turnaround from chaos to stability and prosperity”.
Accordig to Lijian, Hong Kong residents and foreign citizens there can better exercise their legitimate rights and enjoy their freedoms in a safe environment.
“The legal basis for the Chinese government’s administration of Hong Kong is China’s Constitution and the Basic Law, not the Sino-British Joint Declaration,” Lijian said, adding that after the return of Hong Kong, all the provisions concerning the British side in the Joint Declaration have been fulfilled.
“The UK has no sovereignty, no jurisdiction and no right to supervise Hong Kong. There is no point in repeatedly talking about the Joint Declaration. The UK tries to wantonly interfere in Hong Kong affairs by misrepresenting the Joint Declaration. This is a grave violation of principles of the international law and basic norm governing international relations such as mutual respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity and non-interference in internal affair” China claimed.
“On human rights, the UK is by no means doing a great job, still less is it in the position to lecture others on the issue. In its hundreds of years of colonial history, the UK has committed numerous crimes in many parts of the world. Systemic racial discrimination, violence, provocation and hate crimes against ethnic minorities in the UK are on the rise. In the UK immigration detention centers, conditions are poor and the rights of immigrants are seriously violated,” Lijian said.
“If the UK truly cares about human rights, it should conduct investigation into the UK military’s killing of civilians and acts of torture in the military operations in places like Afghanistan and Iraq and hold the troops accountable. If the UK truly cares about human rights, it should implement the 2019 International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the Chagos Archipelago as soon as possible and return Chagos to Mauritius at an early date to complete the decolonization of Mauritius. If the UK truly cares about human rights, it should not have sat idly by as the resurgence and spread of COVID-19 claimed the lives of nearly 150,000 UK citizens. The UK should reflect on its own problems and earnestly redress them before wantonly criticizing others,” he said.
– global bihari bureau
