Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the compatibility of the Hong Kong Government's policing of the recent protests against the proposed extradition law with sections of the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 on rights and freedoms related to (a) speech, (b) assembly, (c) the press, (d) movement, (e) correspondence, (f) travel, (g) to strike and (h) academic research.

Freedoms of speech, assembly, the press, movement, correspondence, travel, of strike, and academic research are all guaranteed rights under the legally binding Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984.

The British Government supports the Hong Kong people's right to peaceful and lawful protest, which is also one of the fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong. It is imperative that any protests are conducted in a peaceful manner, and that the authorities' response is proportionate. We note the announcement of a special inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Council into recent events in Hong Kong, and look forward to the publication of further details about the scope and composition of the investigation.

The Foreign Secretary announced on 25 June that we will not issue export licenses for crowd control equipment to Hong Kong unless we are satisfied that concerns raised on human rights and fundamental freedoms have been thoroughly addressed.