G7 urges China to reconsider national security law

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and his G7 counterparts have released a statement to stress the international community’s grave concern about China’s decision to impose a national security law on Hong Kong.

Urging China to reconsider its decision, the statement says that the imposition of the law is not in line with the Hong Kong Basic Law, or China’s international commitments under the principles of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which was signed by China and the UK in 1984.

The statement by the Foreign Ministers of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the High Representative of the European Union, says that the proposed national security law would risk seriously undermining the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ principle and the territory’s high degree of autonomy. It would also jeopardise the system which has allowed Hong Kong to become one of the world’s most prosperous regions.

The UK, US, Australia and Canada have previously issued condemnation of Beijing's new security law for Hong Kong, which they say has ‘flourished as a bastion of freedom’.

Raab said: “Today’s statement shows the strength of international concern over China’s proposed new national security law for Hong Kong. As the G7, we are calling on China to adhere to its legally binding international commitments and respect the autonomy and the freedom of the people of Hong Kong.”