Hong Kong is awash with protest—and facing a dangerously uncertain future, as Beijing looks to extend mainland law’s grip on the territory. The region, once a rare shelter for dissenting voices in China, is seeing protections for freedom of speech stripped away one by one. That leaves Britain, once Hong Kong’s colonial master, with a particular obligation to the Hong Kongers it has let down in the past.
In 1984, British parliamentarians across the House of Commons were informed of the Hong Kong governor’s proposals for democratic reforms when they attended debates on the future of Hong Kong during the Anglo-Chinese negotiations. Based on these proposed reforms, parliamentarians approved the U.K. government’s intention to sign the Joint Declaration that would ensure Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997. These reforms never materialised, and the PRC inherited an executive-led system in Hong Kong—one that it has used to push through its own agenda, despite resistance from the Hong Kong public. Today, as a recent report by the Henry Jackson Society I helped compile argues, Britain has both legal and moral responsibilities toward Hong Kong.
