Joint Statement by Canada, Australia and United Kingdom on Hong Kong national security legislation

May 22, 2020 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada

The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Dominic Raab, the United Kingdom’s First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs; and Marise Payne, Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, today issued the following statement:

“We are deeply concerned at proposals for introducing legislation related to national security in Hong Kong.

“The legally binding Joint Declaration, signed by China and the United Kingdom, sets out that Hong Kong will have a high degree of autonomy. It also provides that rights and freedoms, including those of the person, of the press, of assembly, of association and others, will be ensured by law in Hong Kong, and that the provisions of the two UN covenants on human rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, shall remain in force.

“Making such a law on Hong Kong’s behalf without the direct participation of its people, legislature or judiciary would clearly undermine the ‘one country, two systems’ principle under which Hong Kong is guaranteed a high degree of autonomy.”