Hong Kong Watch launches special privileges report in London

Yesterday, Hong Kong Watch continued its tour of launch events for our latest report, The Limits of Autonomy: a review of Hong Kong’s special status under ‘one country, two systems’, in the UK Parliament. You can read the report here.

This event was hosted by Jo White, MP for Bassetlaw, and featured a panel of experts from law, academia and activism: Paul Harris SC, former chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association in 2021-2022 and Advisor to Hong Kong Watch; Chung Ching Kwong, Senior Analyst at the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC); Dr Yuka Kobayashi, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in China and International Politics at SOAS University of London; and Thomas Benson, Senior Research and Policy Advisor at Hong Kong Watch and author of the new report.

Thomas Benson introduced the report’s findings and main policy questions, highlighting the ways in which the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is seeking to reinterpret ‘one country, two systems’ to extract economic and diplomatic benefits out of Hong Kong, and warned the UK government against accepting a false distinction between ‘political autonomy’ and ‘economic autonomy’.

Paul Harris SC provided insights into the erosion of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong since 2020, drawing particular attention to the recent passage of supplementary laws to the 2024 Safeguarding National Security Ordinance. Dr Yuka Kobayashi commented on the expanding use of lawfare by the PRC and Hong Kong within international organisations, and Chung Ching Kwong commented on how the continued absence of a clear China policy made it difficult to push back against violations of the Sino-British Joint Declaration by the PRC.

The panel concluded with a call to the UK government to uphold the principles of the Joint Declaration, sanction Hong Kong officials responsible for the erosion of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong, and reject redefinitions of ‘one country, two systems’ as chiefly a matter of economic, not political autonomy. 

This is the third of four launch events, with the final event to be held in Washington DC next week. This launch event was funded by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD).

香港監察在英國國會發布香港特權報告 籲英政府承認「政治自治」與「經濟自治」並非兩回事

昨天，香港監察繼續展開巡迴報告發布會，在倫敦英國國會發布發表最新報告《The Limits of Autonomy: a review of Hong Kong’s special status under ‘one country, two systems’》。請在此處閱覽報告。

活動由Bassetlaw選區國會議員Jo White MP主持，討論講者包括來自法律界、學術界和社運界的專家：前香港大律師公會主席（2021-2022年）、香港監察顧問夏博義（Paul Harris）；對中政策跨國議會聯盟（IPAC）高級分析員鄺頌晴；倫敦大學亞非學院中國與國際政治高級講師（副教授）Dr Yuka Kobayashi；和香港監察資深研究及政策顧問、報告作者湯柏森（Thomas Benson）。

湯柏森介紹報告發現和主要政策問題，強調中國設法重新解釋「一國兩制」以從香港身上榨取經濟及外交利益，並警告英國政府切勿接受「政治自治」與「經濟自治」是兩回事的錯誤看法。

夏博義就自2020年起香港權利與自由急速惡化提出見解，尤其關注《維護國家安全條例》（ 俗稱「23條」）附例通過一事。Dr Yuka Kobayashi談到中國和香港愈來愈頻繁地在國際組織中運用「法律戰」（lawfare）手段，而鄺頌晴則指出，英國持續缺乏明確的對中政策，因而難以抵制中國違反《中英聯合聲明》的行為。

討論最後呼籲英國政府捍衛《中英聯合聲明》的原則，制裁損害香港權利與自由的香港官員，並拒絕將「一國兩制」重新定義為主要關乎經濟自治，而非政治自治問題。

這是香港監察四場發布會中的第三場，最後一場活動將於下星期在華盛頓舉行。這場發布會由臺灣民主基金會（TFD）資助。