Britain-Hong Kong extradition is halted

Act protests China’s new security law

LONDON — In an escalation of tensions with China, Britain on Monday suspended an extradition treaty with Hong Kong in protest of a new security law that gives China sweeping powers and is seen by critics as a significant threat to basic freedoms in the British former colony.

The decision, announced in Parliament by Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, was prompted by fears that anyone extradited to Hong Kong from Britain could be sent on to mainland China with ease.

“We obviously have concerns about what’s happening in Hong Kong,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in an interview with ITV News, adding that Raab would explain “how we are going to change our extradition arrangements to reflect our concerns about what’s happening with the security law.”

Even before Britain announced the decision Monday, the measure was met with condemnation in China. A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbin, urged Britain to “stop going further down the wrong path.”

The measure underscored a hardening stance among British politicians over China’s treatment of Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese control in 1997, and the growing worries about more assertive behavior by Beijing on the global stage.

Keir Starmer, the leader of Britain’s Labor opposition party, said Monday that suspending the extradition treaty was a “step in the right direction,” but added that Johnson’s government should sanction Chinese officials involved in human rights abuses.

“Some of the actions of the [Chinese] government are deeply concerning, and

we can’t turn a blind eye,” Starmer said in a video post- ed to his Twitter account.

London and Beijing had increasingly warm ties only a few years ago, with many in Britain looking toward trade with China as a key part of the country’s post-European Union economic future. But that has changed as concerns about Hong Kong and other issues grew.

Residents of Hong Kong enjoyed a relatively large amount of freedom of speech and other political liberties under Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework. But under the new laws, the city’s population of 7.5 million is under the same speech restrictions as the mainland.

Under these laws, anyone deemed guilty of subversion could potentially face life imprisonment.

In response, Johnson’s government has said it would offer residency rights and a potential path to U.K. citizenship for as many as 3 million Hong Kong citizens.

Under that plan, 350,000 people who hold British National Overseas passports — and 2.5 million more who are eligible for them — would be granted 12-month renewable visas that would allow them to work in Britain with the possibility of eventual citizenship.

China condemned the move, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian telling Britain to “stop interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs and China’s internal affairs.”

The announcement to suspend the extradition treaty came as Johnson prepared to welcome Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to London for a two-day visit during which China is expected to be high on the agenda.

Britain is one of a growing number of countries to have denounced the security law in Hong Kong, which was brought forward after months of pro-democracy demonstrations and suddenly transformed the city by criminalizing secession, subversion and collusion with foreign forces. Canada and Australia have already suspended similar treaties this month.

The decision also comes as London and Beijing find themselves at increasing odds over a variety of issues, including Britain’s move to bar Chinese tech giant Huawei from its 5G wireless networks and growing public anger in Britain over the treatment of the Uighur minority in Xinjiang, an autonomous territory in China.

On Sunday, China’s ambassador to Britain was interviewed on the BBC, where he was pressed on footage that appeared to show blindfolded Uighurs being forced onto trains. “There is no such concentration camps in Xinjiang,” Liu Xiaoming said. “There’s a lot of fake accusations against China.”

Liu’s appearance prompted an angry response from some British public figures. The footage was later aired on China’s state-run television station CGTN, though the sections about the Uighur video were not shown.

The United States had put Britain under pressure to exclude Huawei and, through its own measures against the Chinese technology firm, forced the British government to rethink its initial decision to allow Huawei to participate. Under the decision, British 5G providers will not be able to buy Huawei products after the end of the year, and will have to remove the company’s technology completely by 2027.