Are rights and freedoms in HK such a minor issue?

FOUR months after Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the United Kingdom was hailed by both countries as heralding a new "golden era", the British government unexpectedly accused China of having committed "a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong", the first time such a charge has been made.

In the Foreign Office's latest six-monthly report on Hong Kong to the British Parliament, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, in commenting on the widely publicised disappearance of five individuals associated with a Hong Kong bookstore and publishing house, noted that "our current information" indicates that one of them, Lee Po, "was involuntarily removed to the mainland without any due process under Hong Kong SAR law".

"This," Mr Hammond wrote, "constitutes a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong and undermines the principle of 'One Country, Two Systems', which assures Hong Kong residents of the protection of the Hong Kong legal system".