Sino-British Joint Declaration

(asked on 25th July 2019) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether it is his Department's policy to fulfil the UK's obligations under the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration.


Answered by
Heather Wheeler Portrait
Heather Wheeler
This question was answered on 9th September 2019

​The British Government takes extremely seriously our longstanding duty to uphold the implementation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration. It is a legally binding treaty, registered with the UN, and remains in force until 2047. We will continue to monitor closely events in Hong Kong, speaking publicly on issues of concern. We regularly raise our concerns directly with the Chinese and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Governments. The Foreign Secretary raised Hong Kong, and the importance of the Joint Declaration, with Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi on 31 July. He also spoke to Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on 9 August, and reiterated our support for Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy, and our commitment to 'One Country, Two Systems'.

Reticulating Splines