LONDON (AP) — The last British governor of Hong Kong said Monday that Beijing’s crackdown on civil liberties in the former British colony has been “a lot worse”…
The last British governor of Hong Kong said Monday that Beijing’s crackdown on civil liberties in the former British colony has been “a lot worse” than he expected. Chris Patten, who led Britain’s last government in Hong Kong before the city was returned to Chinese rule in 1997, said it was “heartbreaking” to see the situation in the city as he launched a new book to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the handover on July 1.
“I thought there was a prospect that (China) would keep its word, and I’m sorry that it hasn’t,” he said in London. “I just find it intensely difficult. I do believe that Hong Kong is a great city, I hope it will be a great city again.”
But he added that he wasn’t hopeful. “I’ll believe that things are changing when some of those who’ve gone into exile in the last few years start to want to go back to China, to Hong Kong,” he told The Associated Press.
