§ Lord Hyltonasked her Majesty's Government:
What steps they are taking to ensure that the principle of one country-two systems is upheld in Hong Kong, as agreed before hand-over; how they monitor new legislation in Hong Kong; whether legislation based on Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law has been proposed or introduced into the legislature; and, if so, what will be the implications for religious and other voluntary bodies. [HL6102]
§ Baroness Amos:Since the handover in 1997, Her Majesty's Government have closely followed developments in Hong Kong, in line with our responsibilities as a co-signatory to the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong. We have reported to Parliament on the implementation of the Joint Declaration on a regular basis. Where we have had concerns about developments, we have made representations to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government, or to Beijing, as appropriate, as noted in the reports to Parliament.
The Hong Kong SAR Government have produced a consultation document outlining their proposals for 76WA legislation to meet their obligations under Article 23 of the Basic Law. A public consultation process is now under way but the SAR Government have not yet published detailed legislative proposals.
We have made clear to the SAR Government our view that any legislation should be consistent with the principles of the Joint Declaration and the two UN human rights covenants.