Hong Kong File photo

 
UK's claim that China's national security law "stifles any political dissent" and "violates the Joint Declaration" is absurd and confuses right and wrong, the Chinese embassy said on Tuesday, after UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab made remarks on the decision by Hong Kong Police Force to charge 47 Hong Kong politicians and activists.

The Hong Kong Police Force on Sunday formally brought charges against 47 people involved in illegal primaries, including Benny Tai, a former professor at Hong Kong University, who was arrested on January 6 on one count of conspiracy to commit subversion, according to an official statement and local media reports.

The accusation that the National Security Law for the Hong Kong SAR is used to "stifle any political dissent" is absurd, the Chinese embassy said in a statement released on Tuesday on its website. 

The national security law was enacted to plug the legal loopholes for safeguarding national security and to provide effective safeguards for the democratic rights and extensive freedoms of Hong Kong citizens, which marks a turning point in Hong Kong going from chaos to law and order and provided better legal safeguards for the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong citizens.

The Chinese government governs the Hong Kong SAR in accordance with the Constitution of China and the Basic Law of the Hong Kong SAR, not the Sino-British Joint Declaration. The UK has no right to use the Joint Declaration as an excuse to interfere in Hong Kong affairs, which are China's internal affairs, it said. 

Some Chinese experts said that charging 47 anti-government figures in Hong Kong sends a clear signal that those who intend to challenge the constitutional order of Hong Kong will always be held accountable and will bring an end to similar attempts to take over the power of authority and endanger national security.

The Chinese embassy also urged the UK to respect the facts and the rule of law, discard its double standards and political manipulation, and view the National Security Law for the Hong Kong SAR and the handling of the case by the relevant authorities in accordance with law from an objective and fair perspective. 

Global Times