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China's action against Hong Kong could badly affect Sino-British agreement: Boris Johnson

China's action against Hong Kong could badly affect Sino-British agreement: Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that China's actions against Hong Kongers have risked "badly eroding" the protection of civic and political freedom which is mentioned in the Sino-British agreement.

During a daily briefing on government's coronavirus news, Johnson said: "I do think that what is happening now is potentially going to be an infringement of the Sino-UK, China-British agreement ... (which) protects political and civic freedoms in Hong Kong. That looks as though it could be very, very badly eroded by what is being proposed."

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"What we are saying is that we want to hold out our hand, a hand of friendship and support and loyalty, to the people of Hong Kong," said Johnson.

He even said that there was no contradiction between the United Kingdom's views on Hong Kong and Chinese telecoms group Huawei. He said that he wants a "good, friendly, clear-eyed working relationship" with China.

Earlier, China hit out at Britain’s plans to change immigration laws for Hong Kongers seeking relief amid the ongoing protests against China’s imposition of security laws in the former British territory.

The laws introduce provisions of sedition and essentially criticize the Chinese Communist Party a crime in the city which enjoys democratic freedoms not available to people in mainland China.

(Inputs from Reuters)