Hong Kong announced Wednesday August 12 the suspension of extradition treaties with France and Germany, days after these two European countries took similar measures in protest against the decline in freedoms in the city.

“The two countries have politicized cooperation in legal matters, thus undermining the grounds for legal cooperation between Hong Kong, Germany and France,” the Hong Kong government said in a statement.

At the beginning of August, the French Foreign Ministry indicated that "in the light of the latest developments" in the former British colony, France renounced to ratify the extradition agreement signed on May 4, 2017 between Paris and the territory. semi-autonomous.

Westerners reject national security law

A few days earlier, the German Foreign Ministry had made a similar announcement, citing recent "events".

Before Paris and Berlin, several Western countries - Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand - had announced similar measures in reaction to the national security law in force since June 30 in the special autonomous region, aimed at sanctioning "subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces".

Imposed in reaction to the monster protests of 2019 in Hong Kong against Beijing's influence, this law fears critics of an unprecedented decline in freedoms enjoyed by the former British colony since its return to China in 1997.

With AFP

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