Hong Kong National Security Legislation: UK Response

Gareth Davies Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

It is precisely because that is at stake—in respect of not only the national security legislation but the previous elections we saw and the forthcoming elections later this year—that we are taking the approach that we are. We are calling out what is a clear and manifest breach of the joint declaration, and I reassure my hon. Friend that we will continue to do so, with our international partners.

[Gareth Davies (Grantham and Stamford) (Con)]

A number of British businesses with headquarters in Hong Kong are likely to be quite concerned right now. What is the Foreign Secretary’s assessment of the likely risks to the Hong Kong dollar peg, as well as the potential for control creep in Hong Kong’s regulatory bodies and fiscal structures?

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is quite right to reflect, as others have done already, on the fact that if China is willing to interfere on political and autonomy grounds, it is also likely to pose a longer-term threat to the economic prosperity and economic model that Hong Kong reflects and embodies. We in the UK are mindful of that, not only from an investment point of view but, frankly, from the point of view of individuals who are trying to run livelihoods or invest in Hong Kong. The sad reality is that if China continues down this track, it will strangle what has long been the jewel in the economic crown. It is clear to me that China is putting politics, as it views it, ahead of economics. I am afraid that is a natural consequence of the creeping violation of Hong Kong’s autonomy that we see.