UK minister says Hong Kong electoral proposals are bid ‘to stifle democracy’

‘China behaves like a bully’ and will only respond to action says Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam joins others applauding Chinese President Xi Jinpin at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing (REUTERS)

Proposed changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system by China would be yet another attack on freedom in the territory, and the British government has raised its deep concerns with Beijing, a Foreign Office minister has told the Commons.

Nigel Adams told MPs: “We are seeing concerted action to stifle democracy and the voices fighting for it. Such measures, if introduced, would be a further attack on Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms. The Chinese and Hong Kong authorities can be in no doubt about the seriousness of our concerns.”

He acknowledged that “meetings taking place behind closed doors” of the Peoples’ Congress in Beijing are likely to see the removal of elected representatives from decision making bodies and vetting of those standing for public office.

He maintained: “We will continue working with our partners to stand up for the people of Hong Kong and hold China to their international obligations".

However, Mr Adams faced repeated accusations from all sides of the House for failing to follow up tough talk with action such as imposing sanctions on Chinese officials, and making use of Magnitsky Laws against those responsible for human rights abuses.

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran asked: “China behaves like a bully, and bullies only understand words when they are followed by concerted action. Does he really believe that they are going to step back? Will the Government now impose Magnitsky sanctions and other measures on the officials responsible like Carrie Lam and Xia Baolong?

"Sanctions were applied in the cases of Belarus and the case of Alexei Navalny — why there and not here when we have a direct duty of care? And will this Government take this case to the International Court of Justice — it is up to us to lead that international, co-ordinated effort to hold China to account?”

Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee said: “We really do need to see greater action and I welcome what the foreign secretary has said in the past in championing these Magnitsky sanctions and making sure that they come into law.

"What we now need to see is names put to those charges, because this has now gone on long enough. We know that the abuses of human rights in Hong Kong have continued and we need to stand up for those who are being targeted."

Shadow foreign office minister Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon) charged: "As a signatory to the Sino British declaration the UK has a legal duty but also a moral responsibility to stand up for the democratic rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong... but for the past few months, the UK Government has just been going through the motions."

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith  said: “The real problem we’ve got here is we sit and wait for something really substantial to happen; other countries have moved.

“We have still not come forward with Magnitsky sanctions which were promised again and again. When will this happen? Because this is the only real action we can take that tells the Chinese that we have had enough of their behaviour and they now have to step back into line with the international order, or they will be sanctioned."