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China Has Blocked a British Mission to Hong Kong — and the UK Parliament Isn't Happy About It

The Chinese government has refused visas to lawmakers planning an inquiry into the pro-democracy protests in the former British colony.
Image via Reuters

Lord Christopher Pattern, the last British governor of Hong Kong, is famous for weeping on the night that the territory's sovereignty was transferred from Britain to China. It was the small hours of 1 July 1997. The British flag had just been lowered over the city — to the familiar tune of "God Save the Queen" — and hundreds of People's Liberation Army vehicles had crossed the border from China into Hong Kong, signifying the firm end of British colonial rule.

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On Tuesday, the details of this 1997 handover were discussed anew — at a rare emergency debate in the UK House of Commons.

Image via Parliament Live

The meeting was called to address news that China had denied the UK parliament's foreign affairs committee permission to travel to Hong Kong, as part of an inquiry into British relations with its former colony. Beijing's refusal to grant travel access came after the parliamentarians suggested that they planned to investigate the ongoing pro-democracy protests that have rattled Hong Kong since late September.

On Tuesday, foreign affairs committee chairman Sir Richard Ottaway called the move "manifestly irresponsible and incorrect," and warned that it "points to China's direction of travel."

He also brushed off criticism, from Beijing, that Westminster is unduly meddling in internal Chinese affairs. He said Britain was being treated like the proverbial "old Aunt Sally," as China insisted "that we aren't a colonial power any more and we mustn't behave like one."

At moments, memories of the colonial era seemed very much alive as members of parliament (MPs) took the floor to recount long-ago visits to China and Hong Kong. MP Richard Graham (Gloucester), former First Secretary of the British Embassy in Beijing, discussed a severe bout of "dysentery" that he encountered while in China — and from which he only recovered after taking antibiotics.

But at the center of the debate lay China's 1997 commitments over Hong Kong's governance — and those made by Britain. In a sign of the gravity with which the diplomatic incident is viewed in London, the parliament delayed a scheduled second reading of the UK's new Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill to hold the emergency session — albeit in a sparsely populated chamber.

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Sir Ottaway revealed that on Friday, Chinese Embassy officials confirmed that members of the UK Foreign Select Committee "would not be allowed into Hong Kong" at the end of the December, when they planned to visit the Chinese territory. Several months earlier, China had asked the British parliament to call off its Hong Kong inquiry.

On Sunday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that China opposes "any foreign government… interfering in Hong Kong's affairs." Hua added: "If certain people in Britain still want to keep on like this, it is not only irrational and useless but like lifting up a rock to drop it on one's foot."

In 1984, Britain and China signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, clearing the way for the 1997 return of Hong Kong to Beijing. The agreement established a "One Country, Two Systems" policy, whereby Hong Kong would retain a degree of political autonomy, within China, for a period of at least fifty years.

1997 Hong Kong Handover Ceremony

Today, Beijing is accused of breaking its end of the deal. In August, China announced that it would pre-select candidates for Hong Kong elections in 2017. The announcement brought thousands of Hong Kong residents to the streets, where they remain.

Yet Britain has also been charged with shirking its duty to Hong Kong residents. Since the Occupy Central protests began, critics have arraigned Westminster for abandoning its former colony to Chinese tyranny — and for neglecting its pledge to safeguard Hong Kong's autonomy.

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Early this month, former Governor Patten accused the British government of having "kept shtoom" on Chinese aggressions in Hong Kong, "in the bizarre anticipation that that would be the best way of developing our relationship with China." In October, Anson Chan, a former chief secretary in Hong Kong's colonial government, urged Britain to "act honourably: it has a moral and legal responsibility to Hong Kong."

On Tuesday, MP Martin Horwood (Cheltenham) said that the British government was sidelining human rights concerns in China — in an effort to preserve trade relations with Beijing and thus "buy and sell more widgets."

But Sir Ottaway said that, travel bans aside, the foreign affairs committee would continue its investigative probe. To end that work, he said, "would be an abrogation of our responsibilities."

Next spring, Prince William will travel to mainland China, on invitation from the Chinese state.

Follow Katie Engelhart on Twitter: @katieengelhart