“Time of Uncertainty Begins: Will Beijing Honor Vows?” read the headline on the front page of The New York Times on July 1, 1997, the day Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule. “Vows” refers to the terms China and Britain agreed to in 1984 on Hong Kong’s transfer, including a promise that Hong Kong would retain its civil liberties and capitalist way of life for 50 years after becoming “an inalienable part” of Communist-ruled China.
Now, two of Hong Kong’s most prominent democrats are turning the question on Britain.
“We’re concerned that neither of the two signatories to the Joint Declaration — that is, China and Britain — is adequately fulfilling their respective responsibilities on the terms of this internationally binding treaty,” Anson Chan, formerly Hong Kong’s second-ranking official, said at a parliamentary committee hearing in London on Wednesday.
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Alan Wong, The New York Times via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1nf6WHp
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