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UK: US Didn’t Strong Arm Tougher Measures On China

The United Kingdom announced Monday it will suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong.
Hong Kong

After China imposed a new national security law on Hong Kong with severe penalties for a swath of new crimes, the United Kingdom announced it will suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced the change in Parliament on Monday along with the reasoning for the decision. The UK is also expanding its arms embargo on China, including Hong Kong.

“The imposition of this new national security legislation has significantly changed key assumptions underpinning our extradition treaty arrangements with Hong Kong,” Raab said.

China has labelled the decision “brutal meddling” by the UK in its internal affairs.

Raab was asked Tuesday whether the UK had been strong-armed by Washington, after the UK took a range of steps on security and economic issues related to China and Hong Kong over the last week. The UK banned mobile providers from buying new 5G equipment from the Chinese firm Huawei, and announced last week that by 2027, UK companies would remove all Huawei 5G equipment from their wireless networks.

“As a result of US sanctions we have to look with a clear-sighted perspective…and we have taken a decision based on that,” said Raab. “But I don’t think there is any question of strong-arming.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said “we think well done” when asked about the UK response. Meeting Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Downing Street for “candid” talks on security and economic issues, he congratulated the “British government for its principled responses to these challenges.”

Extradition treaties allow a person accused of a crime in one country to be returned to the original country for prosecution. China’s new law would enable prosecutions that would be considered human rights violations in the UK. The law is vaguely and broadly written and criminalizes acts of subversion, secession, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces.

Simple acts of opposition to the Chinese government, like the protests that have been widespread in the former British colony, could be criminalized, as could pro-democratic political organization or waving a Hong Kong independence flag. Just last week, China’s top representative in Hong Kong called a pro-democracy primary “nakedly illegal behavior,” reports the Washington Examiner.

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