HONG KONG (AP) — The last British governor of Hong Kong said China has betrayed the semi-autonomous territory by tightening control over the city it had…
HONG KONG (AP) — The last British governor of Hong Kong said China has betrayed the semi-autonomous territory by tightening control over the city it had promised could keep freedoms not found on the mainland.
“What we are seeing is a new Chinese dictatorship,” Chris Patten told an interview with The Times of London. “I think the Hong Kong people have been betrayed by China, which has proved once again that you can’t trust it further than you can throw it.”
He said the British government “should make it clear that what we are seeing is a complete destruction of the Joint Declaration,” a legal document under which the former British colony was returned to China in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” framework.
It gives Hong Kong its own legal system and Western-style freedoms until 2047.
