• Asia: Protests and at least 300 detainees with the entry into force of the Hong Kong Security Law
  • Reactions. Johnson assures that the Hong Kong Security Law is "a clear violation" of China's obligations

In London, it didn't sit well with Hong Kong's new National Security Law taking effect on Wednesday at 11pm, just an hour before the 23rd anniversary of the former British colony's return to Chinese rule. Boris Johnson had previously warned that the legislation was "a clear breach of China's obligations when they signed the treaty in 1997." Yesterday, in the British Parliament, while in Hong Kong thousands of citizens took to the streets in protest of the new law, Johnson reiterated his intention to open the doors of British citizenship to three million Hong Kong people.

Today it was his turn to respond to Beijing. In the Asian giant they have made it clear that they will retaliate against the United Kingdom in the event that they grant residence or citizenship to Hong Kong residents who flee from the harsh law that endangers the autonomy they have enjoyed in all these years .

"China reserves the right to take further action. The British side will bear all the consequences, " Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said at a press conference. From Beijing they point out that the United Kingdom does not have the right to grant residence to Hong Kong people.

The Chinese Embassy in London also insisted in a statement that "if the British side makes unilateral changes in the relevant practice, it will violate its own position and its commitments, as well as international law and the basic rules that govern international relations" .

For the Chinese ambassador, Liu Xiaoming, it was clear that "all Chinese compatriots residing in Hong Kong are Chinese citizens, whether or not they possess the citizen passport of the British dependent territories or the British foreign national passport (350,000 Hong Kong citizens have it)" .

Hong Kong's transfer of sovereignty was agreed in 1984 by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. So there were many doubts about whether China was going to be able to respect the city's degree of autonomy - its own legal system, political parties and rights that include freedom of expression and assembly - as well as the principle known as' one country, two systems' over the agreed five decades.

London now plans to amend the clauses of the British Overseas Passport (BMO) to make it easier for holders to install in the United Kingdom. In principle, 2.9 million Hong Kong people, all born before 1997, would be entitled to that document.

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  • Hong Kong
  • UK
  • China
  • London
  • National Security Law
  • Boris Johnson
  • international
  • Sexual assault

AsiaChina may punish those who violate the new National Security Law in Hong Kong with life imprisonment

United KingdomJohnson paves the way for British citizenship for three million Hong Kong people

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