英國指責中國在香港使用國安法

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

Britain scolds China over use of security law in Hong Kong

Tue., December 14, 2021, 6:48 p.m.

By Greg Torode and Guy Faulconbridge

HONG KONG/LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Britain has scolded China for its broadening use of a national security law in Hong Kong, detailing attacks on the city's vaunted judiciary, civil society groups and foreign diplomats.

"The erosion of liberty in Hong Kong is an affront to freedom and democracy," Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in the publication on Tuesday of her government's latest six-monthly report on Hong Kong.

"Just over a year since the introduction of the national security law, the mainland Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have used the law and related institutions against all opposition, free press and civil society in Hong Kong," Truss said in a foreword to the report.

"This curtailing of space for the free expression of alternative views continues to weaken checks and balances on executive power."

The report, which covers events up to June 30, appears to be stronger than earlier ones targeting the impact of the national security law.

Both the Chinese and Hong Kong governments issued statements condemning the report, with a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London warning that British "attempts to create trouble in Hong Kong or use Hong Kong to contain China will not succeed.

Beijing imposed the law on the Asian financial hub in June 2020 after months of sometimes violent anti-government protests rocked the city in 2019.

Noting use of the law against some media and journalists, the report charts pressure by pro-Beijing media that has forced trade unions and other groups to disband.

Outlining criticism from some mainland officials, it states that "judicial independence is increasingly finely balanced".

Truss said, however, she believed British judges could still "play a positive role in supporting this judicial independence."

British judges have long served among the foreign jurists appointed to Hong Kong's highest court, an arrangement designed to maintain confidence in the city's legal system that is seen as the bedrock of its broader social and commercial freedoms.

Britain handed its former colony back to Chinese rule in 1997 amid guarantees that its way of life would be protected under a "one country, two systems" model.

Truss said Britain was committed to continuing to monitor the situation in Hong Kong, including speaking to a broad range of politicians.

She expressed concern at the "growing pattern of the mainland Chinese and Hong Kong authorities misrepresenting such normal diplomatic contact as foreign collusion".

The Hong Kong government said it "strongly opposed the unfounded allegations", urging Britain to "stop interfering into the internal affairs of China through Hong Kong affairs".

It also said it opposed the report's criticism of the government's overhaul of the electoral system. Hong Kong is due to vote for a new Legislative Council this weekend, with many opposition figures in jail or exile and only those classed as "patriots" allowed to run.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in London and Greg Torode in Hong Kong; Editing by Kate Holton and Michael Perry)

Translation

香港/倫敦 12 月 15 日(路透) - 英國指責中國擴大在香港使用國家安全法，詳細描述了對該市引以為豪的司法機構、民間社會團體和外國外交官的攻擊。

外交大臣Liz Truss 週二在其政府最新的六個月香港報告中說:“香港的自由受到侵蝕是對自由和民主的侮辱” 。

Truss在報告前言中說： “國安法出台僅一年多，中國大陸和香港當局就利用該法律和相關機構打擊香港的所有反對派、新聞自由和公民社會” 。

 “這種限制自由表達不同觀點的空間, 繼續削弱對行政權力的製衡” 。

該報告涵蓋截至 6 月 30 日的事件，似乎比對較早前針對國家安全法影響的報告更用力。

中國和香港政府均發表聲明譴責該報導，中國駐倫敦大使館發言人警告稱，英國“企圖在香港製造麻煩或利用香港遏制中國的企圖是不會得逞的。

在暴力反政府抗議活動在 2019 年震撼了這座城市之後數月, 北京在 2020 年 6 月對這個亞洲金融中心實施了這項法律。

報告指出該法律被用來對付一些媒體和記者，並描繪了親北京媒體的壓力，迫使工會和其他團體解散。

它概述了一些大陸官員的批評，宣稱“司法獨立越來越精細地平衡”。

然而Truss說，她相信英國法官仍然可以“在支持這種司法獨立方面發揮積極作用”。

長期以來英國法官一直在香港最高法院任命的外國法學家中任職，這一安排旨在保持對香港法律體系的信心，該法律體係被視為更廣泛的社會和商業自由的基石。

在保證香港生活方式將在“一國兩制”模式下受到保護之下, 英國於 1997 年將其前殖民地交回中國統治。

Truss表示，英國致力於繼續監測香港局勢，包括與廣泛的政界人士交談。

她對:“中國大陸和香港當局越來越多地將這種正常的外交接觸歪曲為與外國勾結”表示擔憂。

香港政府表示“強烈反對這些毫無根據的指控”，敦促英國“停止通過香港事務干涉中國內政”。

它還表示反對該報告對政府改革選舉制度的批評。香港將於本週末投票選出新一屆立法會，許多反對派人士已入獄或流亡，只有被歸類為“愛國者”的人才獲准參選。

              So, Britain continues to accuse China for its broadening use of the national security law in Hong Kong. Truss said Britain is committed to continuing to monitor the situation in Hong Kong, including speaking to a broad range of politicians. She expressed concern that the mainland Chinese and Hong Kong authorities are misrepresenting such normal diplomatic contact as foreign collusion. I believe that the broadening use of a national security law in Hong Kong would influence the opinion of Taiwan people in accepting a unification with the Mainland.