【news-UK / dec 3, 14 HKT】 Highlighting of the 3-hour emergency debate over the ban by China on Foreign Affairs Committee visit to HK in the House of Commons: 1.Conservative Richard Graham(Sir Richard), If theres a commitment to democracy in Hong Kong you first have to understand democracy. 2.Conservative MP Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who served as foreign secretary for the final two years of British sovereignty of Hong Kong, said the move demonstrated Chinas weakness… China should have used the visit as an opportunity to explain why its policy on the selection of candidates was more favourable.” 3.Labour MP Sir Gerald Kaufman, a former shadow foreign secretary, told the Commons that he was present in Hong Kong when sovereignty was handed over to China, and regarded it as a day of shame for Britain. There was never any obligation to hand over Hong Kong to China... and I have absolutely no doubt that it was Foreign Office officials abiding by their usual custom of ingratiating themselves with a foreign government with which we could have valuable trading relations when democracy was the second consideration, he said. Sir Gerald said the UK needed to be more realistic about China, which he said was a country that still uses the death penalty, imprisons without trial and has no genuine freedom of speech. 4. Sir John(Conservative MP Sir John Stanley) - who has been a member of the committee for 22 years - said it was unprecedented situation and wholly unacceptable, fearing it would set a dangerous precedent for other committees and the House of Commons as a whole. 5. Conservative Richard Graham (SAME AS 1.), who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on China, told MPs he was recently refused a visa to Shanghai to join a UK-China leadership delegation forum, which meant the entire parliamentarian delegation pulled out. Commenting on the ban on the Foreign Affairs Committee entering Hong Kong, Mr Graham said it was sad China had concluded that the committees report, which has not yet been drafted, must be negative in principle because of its existence rather than its content. 6. Sir Richard Ottaway said the issue represented a real hiccup in Sino-British relations, which he said had improved since a row in 2012 over a meeting between David Cameron and the Tibetan opposition leader, the Dalai Lama. China is a member of the G20. We work and do a lot together. This is wholly unnecessary and I would like to think they will think again over it. 7. (Foreign Office)Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond raised concerns about the general situation in Hong Kong with his Chinese opposite number last week but Labour said the Foreign Office should be intervening to resolve the regrettable dispute. The situation on the ground in Hong Kong remains volatile and tense, and the authorities there must take steps to calm the situation, not further inflame it, shadow minister Kerry McCarthy added. (source: BBC news - bbc/news/uk-politics-30275320 ) #bbc #uk #mongkok #admiralty #causewaybay #clearout #mk #beijing #hkgovernment #HKSAR #cyleung #occupycentral #hongkongstudentstrike #hkstudentstrike #hongkong #hk #hk926 #oclp #hkclassboycott #UmbrellaRevolution #hkum #umbrellamovement #MovimientoParaguas #MouvementParapluie #公民抗命 #regenschirmbewegung #sonnenschirmbewegung #paraplyrörelse #우산운동
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 04:46:04 +0000
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