Chris Patten defended London’s announcement that it would grant residency and a path to citizenship for nearly 3 million Hong Kong residents if Beijing goes through with passage of the legislation. An earlier push to pass security legislation was shelved after massive Hong Kong street protests against it in 2003. Patten said the security legislation is unnecessary because Hong Kong’s legal code already includes provisions to combat terrorism, financial crimes and other threats to security. “What Beijing wants is something which deals with those rather worrying Orwellian crimes like sedition, whatever that may be,” Patten said. Beijing has ignored promises that Hong Kong could democratize of its own accord after the handover, Patten said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer June 06, 2020 00:00 UTC