pescatarian09
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Hong Kong extradition treaty: What time is Dominic Raab's speech today?
THE UK is expected to make an announcement about its extradition treaty with Hong Kong. But what will it be about and what time is it today? Here is everything you’ll need to know… What…
www.thesun.co.uk
Dominic Raab is expected to suspend the UK's extradition treaty with Hong Kong on Monday, July 20, amid growing tensions with Beijing.
According to the Daily Telegraph, multiple Whitehall insiders claimed that the Foreign Secretary is set to tell MPs that the arrangement will be temporarily stopped.
This comes after the imposition of the new national security law by the Chinese government in June 2020.
The Government has said China’s new national security law violates the Sino-British Joint Declaration which guaranteed Hong Kong’s way of life would remain unchanged for 50 years until 2047.
On Sunday, July 19, Mr Raab accused China of "gross, egregious" humans rights abuses against the country's Uighur population.
He said: “It is clear that there are gross, egregious human rights abuses going on, which is why in Geneva at the UN we raised this with 27 partners ... to call out the government of China for its human rights abuses of the Uighurs, also of Hong Kong".
Mr Raab also described the reports of forced sterilisation and mass re-education camps as "deeply troubling".
It follows the government’s decision to exclude the tech giant Huawei from the UK’s 5G network, in a major U-turn just six months after approving its involvement.
The Chinese ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, said Beijing was still considering its response but warned Britain not to get drawn into a “tit-for-tat” confrontation.
Edit: the correct time given by the House of Commons for Raab's speech is 15:30.
Link to (live) speech:
Update: Props to Lisa Nandy for bringing up the Uyghur concentration camps after the speech, and asking Raab whether he will follow the US in imposing sanctions on China for these human rights abuses.
Update 2: Raab did not mention the Uyghurs specifically when responding to Lisa Nandy's comments. But a second MP has now stood up and mentioned it explicitly.
Update 3: Raab only responded to this second MP by saying that the UK led a statement on the Hong Kong and Xianjiang in the UN Human Rights Council, which 27 countries signed the statement.
Update 4: A third MP (SNP) has brought up the Uyghur situation, and related 'proportional' sanctions. Raab emphasises that Magnitsky sanctions against China must be done slowly, not quickly, or they will be challenged by the CCP.
Update 5: A fourth MP has brought up the Uyghurs, and the forced sterilisation of the Uyghur women; he says we must look at this urgently, and force sanctions on those officials responsible. Raab responds: he has been reading the Amnesty report on mass indoctrination and detention, and the internment camps; he says 'its not a question of whether the abuses took place, its whether individual responsibility can be ascribed to someone whom we wish to impose a visa ban on or asset freeze on'.
Update 6: A fifth MP has brought up the Uyghur situation, calls it 'absolutely horrific'. Brings up the recent drone footage, the shipment of human hair, whether it can be called genocide in legal terms. Raab responds to the genocide categorisation by saying it is a matter of 'intention, and deliberate intention that is ascribed to it', brings up the Chinese ambassador's inability to answer Marr's questions on 19th July, and says that 'the legal label on it is secondary to the plight of the victims suffering under it' .
Update 7: A sixth MP has brought it up. Says the US has seen fit to imposed sanctions on China over this, why can the UK not do the same. SUggests to Raab that an independent inquiry ought to be set up to consider the available evidence as it is revealed, to judge what kinds of systematic human rights abuses are taking place in Xianjiang. Raab responds: the UK is coordinating with its Five Eyes partners to observe China's actions, but that setting up an independent inquiry is not possible because China are unlikely to permit UK 'busybodies' to enter Xianjiang and investigate for themselves what is occurring there.
Update 8: A seventh MP has brought up the Uyghurs. Raab responds by emphasising an 'evidence-based approach', emphasies 'carefully, carefully' gathering and assessing the evidence, says a policy note was published with included criteria that assess the nature and severity of violations, and 'ability to hold individuals to account at the right levels sufficiently senior so that it sends the right message'.
Update 9: An eighth MP calls for emphasis on cooperation, and not confrontation, and that Magnitsky sanctions are not on the Chinese per se, whose climate policies the UK is in agreement with, but with human rights abusers and corrupt officials, 'wheresoever they may be'. Raab agrees.
Update 10: A further MP says that China will respond to the UK's sanctions. Raab agrees, and says that is why he is making an effort to emphasise a 'well-reasoned, focused, proportionate' policy, says 'we will not buck and bow', emphasises 'resilience of our values' in face of Chinese response.
Update 11: A 12th/13th MP bringing up the Uyghur situation says: 'it is reminiscent of some of the darkest moments in our history', says we must stand up to China now, use every lever we've got.
Link to (live) speech:
Update 2: Raab did not mention the Uyghurs specifically when responding to Lisa Nandy's comments. But a second MP has now stood up and mentioned it explicitly.
Update 3: Raab only responded to this second MP by saying that the UK led a statement on the Hong Kong and Xianjiang in the UN Human Rights Council, which 27 countries signed the statement.
Update 4: A third MP (SNP) has brought up the Uyghur situation, and related 'proportional' sanctions. Raab emphasises that Magnitsky sanctions against China must be done slowly, not quickly, or they will be challenged by the CCP.
Update 5: A fourth MP has brought up the Uyghurs, and the forced sterilisation of the Uyghur women; he says we must look at this urgently, and force sanctions on those officials responsible. Raab responds: he has been reading the Amnesty report on mass indoctrination and detention, and the internment camps; he says 'its not a question of whether the abuses took place, its whether individual responsibility can be ascribed to someone whom we wish to impose a visa ban on or asset freeze on'.
Update 6: A fifth MP has brought up the Uyghur situation, calls it 'absolutely horrific'. Brings up the recent drone footage, the shipment of human hair, whether it can be called genocide in legal terms. Raab responds to the genocide categorisation by saying it is a matter of 'intention, and deliberate intention that is ascribed to it', brings up the Chinese ambassador's inability to answer Marr's questions on 19th July, and says that 'the legal label on it is secondary to the plight of the victims suffering under it' .
Update 7: A sixth MP has brought it up. Says the US has seen fit to imposed sanctions on China over this, why can the UK not do the same. SUggests to Raab that an independent inquiry ought to be set up to consider the available evidence as it is revealed, to judge what kinds of systematic human rights abuses are taking place in Xianjiang. Raab responds: the UK is coordinating with its Five Eyes partners to observe China's actions, but that setting up an independent inquiry is not possible because China are unlikely to permit UK 'busybodies' to enter Xianjiang and investigate for themselves what is occurring there.
Update 8: A seventh MP has brought up the Uyghurs. Raab responds by emphasising an 'evidence-based approach', emphasies 'carefully, carefully' gathering and assessing the evidence, says a policy note was published with included criteria that assess the nature and severity of violations, and 'ability to hold individuals to account at the right levels sufficiently senior so that it sends the right message'.
Update 9: An eighth MP calls for emphasis on cooperation, and not confrontation, and that Magnitsky sanctions are not on the Chinese per se, whose climate policies the UK is in agreement with, but with human rights abusers and corrupt officials, 'wheresoever they may be'. Raab agrees.
Update 10: A further MP says that China will respond to the UK's sanctions. Raab agrees, and says that is why he is making an effort to emphasise a 'well-reasoned, focused, proportionate' policy, says 'we will not buck and bow', emphasises 'resilience of our values' in face of Chinese response.
Update 11: A 12th/13th MP bringing up the Uyghur situation says: 'it is reminiscent of some of the darkest moments in our history', says we must stand up to China now, use every lever we've got.
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