Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the arrest by Hong Kong’s national security police of Margaret Ng and Cardinal Joseph Zen, along with three other trustees of the Hong Kong Humanitarian Relief Fund.

The Hong Kong authorities' decision to target leading pro-democracy figures including Cardinal Zen, Margaret Ng, Hui-Po-Keung and Denise Ho under the National Security Law is unacceptable.

The Sino-British Joint Declaration is a legally binding treaty between the UK and China, and under this China committed to uphold Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy and protect the rights and freedoms of its people. This explicitly includes freedom of expression, which is fundamental to Hong Kong's way of life.

We continue to make clear to mainland Chinese and Hong Kong authorities our strong opposition to the National Security Law, which is being used to curtail freedoms, punish dissent and shrink the space for opposition, free press and civil society.