UK says China's security law is serious violation of Joint Declaration on Hong Kong

A video grab from footage broadcast by the UK Parliament's Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) shows Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab as he makes a statement on Hong Kong, in the House of Commons in London on July 1, 2020. - Britain on Wednesday extended Hong Kong residents immigration rights after calling China's new security law for Hong Kong a "serious" violation of the former UK territory's autonomy. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Hong Kongers would be offered the right to work or study in Britain for five years. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)

The United Kingdom said on Wednesday that China's imposition of a security law on Hong Kong was a "clear and serious" violation of the Joint Declaration.

"We have very carefully now assessed the contents of this national security legislation since it was published last night," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Reuters.

"It constitutes a clear violation of the autonomy of Hong Kong, and a direct threat to the freedoms of its people, and therefore I'm afraid to say it is a clear and serious violation of the Joint Declaration treaty between the United Kingdom and China."

Hong Kong's autonomy was guaranteed under the "one country, two systems" agreement enshrined in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration signed by then Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

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