Last year five book publishers based in Hong Kong were detained by Chinese authorities and held incommunicado for months, with two abducted from Thailand and Hong Kong. “In recent years Beijing has consistently undermined the ‘one country, two systems’ principle and infringed on the democratic freedoms of the residents of Hong Kong,” Rubio said in a statement. When the UK handed the territory to China, Hong Kong was allowed under the “one country, two systems” framework to keep freedoms not available on the mainland. The 20-year-old chairman of a Hong Kong political party spoke at an event organised by the US congressional-executive commission on China. Photograph: Tyrone Siu/ReutersHe added the international community had a moral responsibility to Hong Kong.

Source: The Guardian November 17, 2016 04:30 UTC