Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has hinted that the British government could suspend the extradition treaty with Hong Kong.
This comes as China have implemented the new national security law in Hong Kong amid growing tensions with Beijing.
A review into the new arrangement has been completed and Raab is set to make an announcement in Parliament later today.
He warned China, that “it will not be business as usual” with Hong Kong once the pandemic comes to an end.
Members of Parliament’s Chinese Research Group wrote in a letter on Saturday, “We are all going to have to ask ourselves if we recognise the Chinese Communist Party’s definitions of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion, and share the interpretation of mainland judges.”
Speaking to Sky News Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme, Raab said, “On Hong Kong, I’m going to go to the House of Commons tomorrow [Monday] to make a further statement on the work we’ve been doing with our partners in government.
“I’ve said that we’d review a whole range of other considerations.
“One of the things that we reviewed is our extradition arrangements and I will be updating the House on the conclusion of that review, along with other things that we’ve been looking at.”
The Foreign Secretary added, We have said there won’t be business as usual after COVID-19 and we are working with our international partners to get a proper independent review of what happened but we also want to make sure that we’re not slipping into some outdated dogmatic approach with China.”
The Chinese ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming hit back and said it would be “totally wrong” to impose these sanctions on officials.
Speaking to the BBC Xiaoming warned, “If the UK goes that far to impose sanctions on any individuals in China, China will certainly make a resolute response to it.
“I think the UK should have its own independent foreign policy rather than dance to the tune of the Americans like what happened to Huawei.”
Jaguar Land Rover, BP and GlaxoSmithKline could face retaliation in China, Communist Party officials have warned.
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