Duty to Hong Kong

SIR – As the ambassador who led the British team on the Sino-british Joint Liaison Group in Hong Kong for the final four years before the handover in 1997, I strongly reject the assertions by Ambassador Liu Xiaoming on Newsnight on Wednesday that the Joint Declaration “had fulfilled its mission” with the handover, and that the British Government had no right to monitor events in Hong Kong.

The Chinese government’s position on this (which has been expressed in similarly erroneous terms by other Chinese officials) is absolutely wrong. It ignores the terms of the declaration and the commitment that Britain and China entered into to uphold “one country, two systems” for 50 years from July 1 1997.

Nobody should be in any doubt that the declaration, an international treaty between the two countries registered at the UN, is still very much a living entity, and will continue to be so until 2047. Under this treaty, China cannot unilaterally exclude Britain from our joint obligations to Hong Kong.

This needs to be said repeatedly to ensure that Beijing is not tempted to interpret the treaty on its own terms. We need to show the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region that Britain is still committed to holding China to what was agreed in 1984 and set in motion in 1997. Hugh Ll Davies

Wincanton, Somerset

SIR – Your leading article (June 10) rightly alerts us to the existential threat facing Hong Kong. We have legal, moral and historical obligations to its people – enshrined in the Sino-british Joint Declaration.

Last month I spoke with two young graduates who shared their deep fears about proposals to amend the city’s extradition law. They were among the one million people who marched in protest against this. They have legitimate fears that the rule of law, which underpins Hong Kong’s freedoms and autonomy, will be subverted by the proposed changes.

On Wednesday the police used tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray to break up a second protest, seriously injuring protesters. This is unacceptable.

As a co-signatory of the Joint Declaration, our Government must encourage the Hong Kong government to drop the extradition legislation immediately, and stop using excessive force to curtail free assembly.

Lord Alton of Liverpool

London SW1