HK Has Suffered Alarming Political Deterioration: EU

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has submitted a scathing report on Hong Kong which concludes that there had been an “alarming political deterioration” in the territory over the past year, and accuses China of “consciously dismantling the One Country Two Systems principle .”

The annual report said over the course of 2020, Hong Kong had experienced a “further severe erosion of its high degree of autonomy, its democratic principles, and the fundamental freedoms that the Chinese authorities committed to protect until at least 2047.”

It also said fears over the national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong last July had been borne out by a ‘crackdown’ on opposition forces that has seen dozens of pro-democracy activists arrested.

Borrell said the law had helped “stifle dissent and pluralism, and erode fundamental freedoms.”

“China is consciously dismantling the 'One Country, Two Systems' principle in violation of its international commitments and the Hong Kong Basic Law. The regressive electoral changes approved [on Thursday] in Beijing are yet another step down this path,” he added.

Beijing has said its newly-approved plan to empower the Election Committee to vet all Legco candidates and directly choose some of them is aimed at improving the electoral system to ensure only patriots govern Hong Kong, and to protect One Country, Two Systems.

The EU report also said the security law has had a chilling effect on the exercise of protected rights and freedoms in the SAR, and self-censorship in the media, academic and civil society has ‘accelerated’.

While the report says there continued to be a high level of confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary, “the extent to which judges will be able to protect rights and freedoms in the context of applying the [national security law] is less clear.”