Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Britain, EU Join U.S. In Condemning China's Crackdown On Hong Kong Lawmakers

Britain, EU Join U.S. In Condemning China's Crackdown On Hong Kong Lawmakers

Britain and the European Union on Thursday condemned China's move to disqualify four pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong - an action that has led to the mass resignation of the opposition in the city's legislature.
The move follows the approval on Wednesday by China's National People's Congress Standing Committee of a resolution giving Hong Kong authorities the power to bypass local courts and summarily remove politicians seen as a threat to security.

Four Hong Kong lawmakers who support the territory's pro-democracy movement were quickly unseated, prompting opposition lawmakers to resign en masse as a show of solidarity.

The resolution effectively gives Beijing veto power over who sits in Hong Kong's Legislative Council, or Legco, and the mass resignation of the opposition leaves the assembly with no dissenting voices.

London on Thursday accused China of breaching the agreement that laid the groundwork for the handover of Hong Kong nearly a quarter century ago. The Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed in 1984, spelled out the "one country, two systems" philosophy meant to afford the former British colony a large measure of autonomy.

The U.K.'s minister for Asia, Nigel Adams, told Parliament that London was considering sanctions against individuals in China. "It's not entirely appropriate to speculate who may be designated under the sanctions regime in the future as that could reduce the impact, but we are carefully considering further designations under the scheme."

The EU on Thursday called Beijing's move a "severe blow" to Hong Kong's autonomy and called for the resolution to be immediately reversed.

"This latest arbitrary decision from Beijing further significantly undermines Hong Kong 's autonomy under the 'One Country, Two Systems' principle," the EU's 27 governments said in a statement. "These latest steps constitute a further severe blow to political pluralism and freedom of opinion in Hong Kong," they said.

U.S. national security adviser Robert O'Brien on Wednesday also criticized the move, saying in a statement: " 'One Country, Two Systems' is now merely a fig leaf covering for the CCP's expanding one party dictatorship in Hong Kong," referring to China's Communist Party.

On Monday, the Trump administration announced sanctions on an additional four Chinese officials in response to the national security law.

In July, the Trump administration signed legislation and an executive order sanctioning Beijing for its national security law.

"Hong Kong will now be treated the same as mainland China," Trump said at the time. "No special privileges, no special economic treatment and no export of sensitive technologies."

The 15 remaining opposition lawmakers walked out of the chamber on Thursday. In an act of defiance, one of them unfurled a banner saying of the city's Beijing-appointed leader, Carrie Lam, that she will "stink for 10,000 years." Lam has defended the ouster of the four legislators as lawful.

Beijing's liaison office called the mass walkout a "farce" and said it demonstrated the lawmakers' "stubborn resistance" to China's authority.

"Opposition lawmakers have used their public post as a tool of political manipulation," a spokesperson said for China's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office. "If these lawmakers hope to make use of their resignation to provoke radical opposition and beg for foreign interference, they have miscalculated."

Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai said the resignations won't officially take effect until Dec. 1. "This is for us to handle the dismissal of our staff members and assistants," he said.

Last year, major protests in Hong Kong erupted over a proposed extradition bill that would have allowed some people accused of crimes in the territory to be transferred to mainland China to face courts there. The bill was later withdrawn, but Beijing later approved a sweeping national security law that provides for harsh penalties for supporting secession, subversion of state power, terrorism or collusion with foreign entities.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×