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China promised Thursday to take countermeasures in opposition to Britain if it presses forward with plans to prolong citizenship rights to Hong Kongers after Beijing imposed a sweeping safety regulation on the stressed monetary hub.
Beijing has confronted a groundswell of criticism from primarily Western nations over its determination to impose a brand new regulation outlawing acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with overseas forces.
Adding to considerations, Hong Kong’s influential Bar Association printed a brand new authorized evaluation warning that the wording of the regulation — which was stored secret till Tuesday — undermines the town’s unbiased judiciary and stifles freedoms.
Britain has mentioned the regulation breaches China’s pre-handover “One Country, Two Systems” promise to grant residents key liberties — in addition to judicial and legislative autonomy — till 2047.
It has responded by saying plans to permit thousands and thousands of Hong Kongers with British National Overseas standing to relocate with their households and ultimately apply for citizenship.
“We will live up to our promises to them,” overseas secretary Dominic Raab advised parliament.
That transfer has infuriated Beijing, which says Britain promised not to grant full citizenship rights to Hong Kongers forward of the 1997 handover.
“If the British side makes unilateral changes to the relevant practice, it will breach its own position and pledges as well as international law and basic norms governing international relations,” China’s embassy in London mentioned Thursday.
“We firmly oppose this and reserve the right to take corresponding measures,” it added.
Sanctuary calls
Britain shouldn’t be alone in saying plans to supply Hong Kongers sanctuary or elevated immigration rights as fears multiply over the semi-autonomous metropolis’s future beneath the brand new regulation.
On Thursday, Australian chief Scott Morrison mentioned he was “very actively” contemplating providing Hong Kongers secure haven.
Taiwan has opened an workplace to assist Hong Kongers wanting to flee, whereas a proposed invoice within the United States providing sanctuary to metropolis residents has acquired widespread bipartisan assist.
Beijing says the regulation is required to quell seething pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and restore order after a yr of political unrest.
But critics concern it’s going to usher in a brand new period of political repression given related legal guidelines are routinely used to crush dissent on the Chinese mainland.
The regulation has despatched concern coursing by the town and rattled the authorized neighborhood in a enterprise hub that has constructed its status on the independence and reliability of its courts.
The Bar Association — which represents the town’s barristers — issued a scathing critique of the regulation, saying it dismantles the authorized firewall that has existed between Hong Kong’s judiciary and China’s Communist Party-controlled courts.
The new nationwide safety offences had been “widely drawn”, the group mentioned, and “are capable of being applied in a manner that is arbitrary, and that disproportionately interferes with fundamental rights, including the freedom of conscience, expression and assembly”.
It additionally criticised “the total absence of meaningful consultation” with Hong Kongers earlier than the regulation was handed.
First arrests
Thousands of residents defied a protest ban on Wednesday — the anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China — to block roads and voice opposition to the invoice in some of the worst unrest in months.
Police responded with water cannon, pepper spray and tear fuel, arresting practically 400 individuals.
Seven officers had been injured, together with one who was stabbed within the shoulder and three others hit by a protester on a bike.
Ten individuals had been arrested beneath the brand new regulation, illustrating how holding sure political opinions had turn into unlawful in a single day.
Most of these arrested had been carrying flags or leaflets advocating for Hong Kong independence.
The safety regulation is controversial as a result of it radically will increase Beijing’s management over the town.
China says it’s going to have jurisdiction over some circumstances and has empowered its safety brokers to function brazenly inside Hong Kong for the primary time, unconstrained by native legal guidelines.
It has additionally claimed world jurisdiction, saying the regulation covers nationwide safety offences dedicated abroad — even by foreigners.
Some trials will likely be held behind closed doorways and with out juries, whereas native police have been granted sweeping surveillance powers that now not want judicial log off.
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