China has told the UK it will “bear the consequences” if it continues to go “down the wrong road” on Hong Kong. It came after the UK, on Monday, suspended an extradition treaty with Hong Kong over a new security law, which gives Beijing more power. The Chinese ambassador to the UK said it had “blatantly interfered” in China’s affairs.
Liu Xiaoming said: “China has never interfered in the UK’s internal affairs. The UK should do the same to China.”
The most recent escalating tensions come following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s pledge earlier this month to offer three million Hong Kongers British citizenship.
Added to China’s furore was the UK’s decision to remove Huawei technology from the UK’s emerging 5G network.
The controversial new security law that gives mainland China sprawling powers in Hong Kong has largely been cited as having sparked the UK’s opposition.
China latest: Boris Johnson has been urged to conduct a ‘reality check’ over relations with China (Image: GETTY)
Extradition treaty: Dominic Raab announced on Monday that the UK would suspend the agreement (Image: GETTY)
The law now makes criminals of Hong Kong residents who have broken laws that were once only valid on the mainland.
Those residents will now potentially be sent to the mainland to face trial, where the justice system has often been described as arbitrary.
Ultimately, pro-Democracy advocates have argued that the new law curbs certain freedoms such as speech, with those speaking against Beijing at risk of life in prison.
The retaliation from the UK is, as the BBC’s political correspondent, Nick Eardley, described as a “political decision designed to send another message to Beijing.”
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Hong Kong: The unrest comes after Beijing imposed a new security law on Hong Kong curbing freedoms (Image: GETTY)
Many have cited that now is the time to stand up to China.
Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood described action as being necessary as China “doesn’t share the same values as the UK”.
According to Sean King, senior vice president at Park Strategies and business advisor to Asia, “there is no one united world view” on how to deal with China.
Despite this, he told Express.co.uk that a certain set of shared values spanning the US to South Korea, the UK to Japan exist that run contrary to China’s.
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Xi Jinping: The Chinese leader is currently embarked on a campaign of rapid expansionism (Image: GETTY)
Donald Trump latest: Trump has taken a hard line approach to China, sparking a trade war in 2018 (Image: GETTY)
He said: “I think it’s time for a reality check for what this government and party is up to.
“I think for too long we have rationalised with ourselves that if we could make a buck, a pound or a euro there, then somehow China would open up more to its own people and democratise – yet, it’s been proved that’s clearly not the case.
“If anything we’ve fallen further into it and industrialised and built up this power.
“We’ve sort of dug our own grave to a certain extent.
China trade war: The US and China have been tangled in a trade war since 2018 (Image: Express Newspapers)
“We shouldn’t be helping the government clamp down on its own people by doing more business there and investing there and giving them more technology they can use against their own people.
“There’s something called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP) which was a collection of Pacific countries and the US’ our trade agreement against China, however it ended because President Trump pulled the US because he doesn’t like multilateral deals.
“But I think we should be doing more things like that, trading more with friends and allies that share our values and don’t intimidate their neighbours.
Belt and Road: China is expanding its influence as far as Africa through infrastructure programmes (Image: GETTY)
“We need to be honest with what China’s all about and not pick needles and fights with our friends and allies.”
The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in London on Monday evening ahead of talks with Mr Johnson including China and the coronavirus pandemic.
The US has taken a much more hard line approach to China than the UK.
In 2018, Trump began setting tariffs and other trade barriers on China in what marked the beginning of an on-going trade war.