Pressure to rein in China on Hong Kong

CHINA may be Tasmania’s friend but it needs to be told that what it is doing to Hong Kong is wrong, the Tasmanian Liberal Party says.

The State Council has endorsed a motion to ask Canberra to call on China to respect the rule of law, democracy and civil liberties of Hong Kong.

The motion was put forward by the Southern Young Liberal Branch and passed almost unanimously with just one dissenter.

“China is our friend and strongest trading partner. But friends tell each other the truth,” branch member Clark Cooley told the council meeting in Devonport.

“We have to be diplomatic but honest with our friend and tell them what they are doing in Hong Kong is wrong.”

There have been widespread and increasingly violent protests over China’s moves to extradite Hong Kong citizens to China and dismantle the former British colony’s autonomy and extra rights under the “one country, two systems” deal.

Tasmanian Liberal Senator Eric Abetz said the party needed to uphold basic values such as human rights.

“We who have the blessing of living in a free country have an obligation to share that message with the rest of the world,” Senator Abetz said.

“Our forebears died for those freedoms. China is a Communist dictatorship. Sure we trade with them but we believe in individual rights and freedoms. We should not let them say it is culturally insensitive to level criticism over what is happening in Hong Kong.”