The last governor of Hong Kong, Lord Patten, has said it is “demeaning and delusional” for the UK to not call out China’s behaviour over trade fears.
Lord Patten, who is now chancellor of Oxford University, said China is a threat “we have to engage with in order to deal with global problems like climate change”.
He criticised Rishi Sunak after the prime minister appeared to soften his approach to China in November when he said the UK should stand up to Beijing “with robust pragmatism”.
“A phrase that belongs to what I call the ‘mush’ school of diplomacy,” Lord Patten said at this week’s UK-Hong Kong Summit, which brought together Hong Kongers who have moved to the UK after fleeing their homes.
He said the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is a threat to the UK’s long-term security interests, values and institutions, and that can be seen in how they have treated Hong Kong recently.
But, he told Sky News Hong Kongers should not give up hope because “dictatorships, totalitarianism doesn’t last forever”.
“When it crumbles, it goes very quickly,” he said.
The handover of Hong Kong from the UK to China in 1997, which Lord Patten oversaw, came as part of an agreement that Hong Kong would be self-governing with a high degree of autonomy that would remain unchanged for 50 years.
But in 2014, China stated it considers the treaty to be spent and democracy and autonomy in Hong Kong have since rapidly eroded, with a national security law imposed in 2020 seeing democracy activists and politicians jailed.
Lord Patten said the British government is doing a lot to speak out against Hong Kong.
And…
