UK delegation probing Hong Kong's political reform may visit next month
A delegation of British lawmakers accused by Beijing of "meddling'' in Hong Kong affairs could arrive in the city as early as next month for a parliamentary inquiry.
A delegation of British lawmakers accused by Beijing of "meddling'' in Hong Kong affairs could arrive in the city as early as next month for a parliamentary inquiry.
As political tensions persist and the Occupy Central protest enters its second month amid high-level accusations of "foreign interference'', the chairman of the British Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee said its requests to meet Hong Kong and central government figures had been rejected.
The delegation plans to take evidence as part of an inquiry into whether the terms of the Sino-British Joint Declaration - which laid the foundations of the city's return to Chinese sovereignty - have been breached.
Committee head Richard Ottaway said the trip was necessary despite Beijing's warnings.
"We never do a report without visiting the country that we are assessing because you can't assess … without actually talking to people in Hong Kong," he said.
Ottaway said both the Hong Kong and central governments had declined invitations to meet but meetings with a number of other key figures in the city "had not been rejected".
He declined to identify those figures or say exactly when the delegation would arrive but it is understood the second half of November has been pencilled in.
Of the rejections, Ottaway said: "It would make it much easier for us to make a judgment if we heard their side of the arguments, though I think they've made their position pretty clear already so I've got some idea where they are coming from."
The committee also expects to take evidence from the last colonial governor, Chris Patten.
The committee launched the inquiry in July to examine the implementation of the Joint Declaration, which states Hong Kong should have a high degree of autonomy and executive power and that personal rights must be enshrined by law.
It soon received a warning from China's ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, not to visit Hong Kong. It was followed by a strongly worded letter from the National People's Congress Foreign Affairs Committee demanding the visit be scrapped.
In the run-up to the inquiry, the committee took evidence from former chief secretary Anson Fang On-sang and Democratic Party founding chairman Martin Lee Chu-ming, who raised concerns that London did not express a view on Beijing's recent white paper on the city.
Critics say the white paper, which stressed Beijing's "comprehensive jurisdiction" over Hong Kong, runs counter to the promise of a high degree of autonomy in the Joint Declaration.
"This report will be … read not just here but I suspect in a number of capitals around the world," Ottaway said. "It's essential that it has credibility, that this inquiry is conducted properly."
