Britain set to halt Hong Kong extradition pact in China row

Bloomberg

The UK is about to test the risks of a wider confrontation with China that’s been a long time coming.
The next act is playing out when Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab addresses Parliament. The top diplomat has dropped a heavy hint the UK will suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong, a former colony it handed back to China in 1997. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also weighed in ahead of Raab’s statement.
“We obviously have concerns about what’s happening in Hong Kong, and you’ll be hearing a bit later on from the foreign secretary about how we’re going to change our extradition arrangements to reflect our concerns about what’s happening with the security law in Hong Kong,” Johnson told broadcasters.
“We have to think about the human right, the rights of the people of Hong Kong to participate in democratic processes and people here from Hong Kong, and how those changes affect them.”
The move would mark a further diplomatic escalation to a conflict that takes on the reach of Huawei Technologies Co in post-Brexit Britain and the possibility of it sanctioning China over human rights abuses.
In a sign of growing tension, China’s ambassador to London threatened the UK with retaliation and accused it of bowing to US pressure by banning Huawei from the UK’s 5G network. China also is irked by Johnson inviting as many as 3 million Hong Kong residents to apply for UK citizenship.
“You have seen what happened between China and the United States,” Liu Xiaoming told the BBC.
“They sanctioned Chinese officials; we sanctioned their senators, their officials. I do not want to see this tit-for-tat between China-US happen in China-UK relations.
“I think the UK should have its own independent foreign policy rather than dance to the tune of the Americans, like what happened to Huawei.”
Speaking to reporters in Beijing on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin accused the UK of “brutal” meddling in China’s internal affairs and urged the British government to halt its “wrong words and actions.”
The stakes extend beyond Britain. The UK is part of the world’s most extensive intelligence-sharing network known as Five Eyes and after parting ways with the European Union it is vying for commercial opportunities to establish its “Global Britain” brand.
In China’s eyes, an unresolved Brexit could make the UK vulnerable. Canada’s experience, for example, offers a cautionary blueprint.
After Canadian authorities arrested Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in 2018 at Vancouver’s airport on a US extradition request, China detained two Canadians.
The two were indicted on spying charges in June and Canada has also faced trade repercussions. China stopped buying Canadian soybeans and for a while banned its pork and beef. Beyond the boycott, there was the risk of targeted cyber attacks or that Canadians traveling to China risked arrests.
Potential British targets are emerging after the UK government reversed itself and
excluded Huawei. China’s displeasure can take multiple forms, from boiler-plate rhetoric to actions behind the scenes.