BRITAIN has today scrapped the extradition treaty with Hong Kong as Boris Johnson vowed to get “tough” on China.
The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed this afternoon that the UK will change the rules on extraditions to China as relations reached boiling point.
Addressing the Commons, Mr Raab announced a series of actions and accused the country of a “serious violation of the UK-China joint declaration.”
He said: “Given the role China has now assumed for the internal security of Hong Kong, and the authority it is exerting over law enforcement, the UK will extend the arms embargo we have applied to mainland China.
“The Government has decided to suspend the extradition treaty immediately and indefinitely.
“We will not consider reactivating those measures unless there are clear and robust safeguards which are able to prevent extradition from the UK being misused under the new national security legislation.
“I will just say this the UK is watching and the whole world is watching.”
Mr Raab insisted despite the announcement Britain “wants a positive relationship with China.”
He said: “As we strive for that positive relationship we are also clear sighted about the challenges ahead.
“We will be clear where we disagree, and have been clear about the grave concerns regarding the gross human rights abuses being perpetrated against the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.”
The announcement came just hours after Boris tore into the Communist state, saying those in Hong Kong had a “right” to protest.
But the PM warned he was “not going to be pushed into a position of being a knee-jerk sinophobe on every issue to do with China.”
He added: “What we won’t do is completely abandon our relationship with China, China is going to be a giant factor in our geopolitics, we’ve got to have a calibrated response.
“We’re going to be tough on some things but also continue to engage (with China) on others.”
The move follows the US, Australia and Canada scrapping extradition agreements to Hong Kong.
It comes as tensions between the UK and China escalated after the Government banned Huawei – the Chinese Communist party owned telecoms giant – from the 5G network in Britain.
This included suspending Britain’s extradition to Hong Kong after national security laws meant those sent back could be hauled in front of Chinese courts and jailed in China.
The Government claims the change violated the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
The declaration was supposed to guarantee Hong Kong freedom from Chinese rule under the “one county, two systems” model for 50 years after the handover of the former British colony in 1997.
The law prohibits what Beijing views as secessionist, subversive or terrorist activities or as foreign intervention in Hong Kong affairs.
Pro-democracy leader Nathan Law fled to the UK after the law came into effect this month.
He told HOARday Times he was afraid he may never be allowed to go back to Hong Kong.
A 15-year-old girl waving a pro-democracy flag in Hong Kong on the day the law came into effect was among 10 people arrested under the legislation.
The law grants police massive powers to conduct searches without warrants and order internet service providers and platforms to remove messages deemed to be anti-China.
The Government has already taken strong action, offering three million Hongkongers eligible for a British National (Overseas) passport a path to UK citizenship.
The Chinese ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming warned Britain not to enter into a “tit-for-tat” confrontation or follow the US in its sanctions on Chinese officials over alleged human rights abuses of Uighur muslims in Xinjiang.
