UK expected to suspend Hong Kong extradition treaty

UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab is set to announce the result of a review on Monday over a possible suspension of the extradition treaty with Hong Kong in protest over the new national security law imposed on the special administrative area by Beijing.

Raab told Sky News on Sunday: “I’m going to go to the House of Commons tomorrow to make a further statement on the work we’ve been doing with our partners in government. I’ve said that we’d review a whole range of other considerations. One of the things that we reviewed is our extradition arrangements and I will be updating the house on the conclusion of that review, along with other things that we’ve been looking at, tomorrow.”

Raab also accused Beijing of "gross, egregious human rights abuses" in its "deeply troubling" treatment of ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang.

"We want a positive relationship [with China] but we cannot see behaviour like that and not call it out," the foreign secretary said.

Nathan Law, one of Hong Kong’s most prominent young democracy activists wrote on Twitter: “Talked to many members of the parliament on this issue, and got very strong support on the idea of suspending the extradition treaty with Hong Kong. Change is happening".

The treaty has been in place for 30 years and is one of the 19 other extradition agreements that Hong Kong has with other countries around the world.

The UK’s move was echoed by similar measures from the US, Canada and Australia after the controversial national security law was imposed in the Chinese territory.

Britain says the new national security law breaches agreements made before the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to Chinese rule and that China is crushing the freedoms that were supposed to remain in place for at least 50 years.

The UK has offered residency rights to three million Hong Kongers. China accused the UK of meddling in its internal affairs.