British Foreign Minister Hunter's First Visit to China to Talk to Commerce Wang Yi Highlights Hong Kong Business – BBC News

British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt (Hou Junwei) officially went to Beijing and attended the ninth China-United Kingdom Strategic Dialogue, which is not satisfied with British comments on Hong Kong business.

The British position on the former colony of Hong Kong occasionally caused tension between China and Britain. In mid-July, Hunter resumed the sudden resignation of Boris Johnson as Foreign Minister, and a few days after taking office, the London Ministry of Foreign Affairs worried about Hong's intention. Kong to ban the Hong Kong National Party. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Hunter attended the joint press conference on Monday, July 30, and said that Hong Kong 's affairs were purely internal affairs of China and that foreign interference does not occur. was not allowed.

Hunter's trip aims to talk about trade problems with China. He called the talks "constructive" and the Chinese side expressed its willingness to start negotiations with the UK on the bilateral free trade agreement after the "Brexit".

Hunt also confirmed with Wang Yi about the cross-border custody dispute triggered by the murder of Michael Simpsons in Shanghai. Hunter said Wang Yi will understand the situation.

Hunter tried to emphasize his relationship with China when he met Wang Yi, but he misunderstood: "My wife is Japanese."

But he quickly corrected: "My wife is Chinese … We have a strong family bond in China."

What comments has the UK made recently on Hong Kong's business? ?

The Hong Kong SAR government confirmed on the 17th that it is forbidden to operate the Hong Kong National Party, which advocates "the independence of Hong Kong" for reasons of "security" national ". The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office soon issued a statement saying that the British side emphasized that freedom of speech and badociation are rights guaranteed by Hong Kong's Basic Law and Human Rights.

The British side said: "The British side does not support the independence of Hong Kong, but a high degree of autonomy and the rights and freedoms of the people must be respected."

Wang Yi's Monday speech did not directly address the incident of the Hong Kong National Party. He said: "Hong Kong's business is China's domestic affairs, we will not accept foreign countries intervening in Hong Kong's domestic affairs, I think all countries are the same and Great Britain Britain will not allow other countries to interfere in British home affairs. "

" The second point is that China supports and pursues the principle of "one country, two systems."

Hunt said that Hong Kong is part of China, but the UK has signed the "Sino-British Joint Declaration." Hong Kong continues to function well on the "one country, two systems." Minister of Foreign Affairs Johnson, who had not left his post at the time, said in the preface that "one country, two systems" worked well overall, however, in the preface to the latest semiannual report, I 39 I mentioned that Hong Kong is facing press growth in the second half of 2017. With regard to the incident, the United Kingdom has paid attention to the relevant authorities in China and Hong Kong. The Hong Kong governments have criticized the British report for being ingested in Hong Kong's internal affairs and for "reporting irresponsible remarks" about Hong Kong's affairs. Hong Kong's pan-democratic politicians have qualified the British report of "low-pitched". Economic and commercial relations. Wang Yi had previously expressed his dissatisfaction with the British Foreign Minister on the Hong Kong issue: for example, before Foreign Minister Hammond made a statement on the Li Bo case in the Causeway Bay bookstore in 2016, Wang Yi replied: In this case, the first thing I want to tell you is that according to the Hong Kong Basic Law and the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China, it is a Chinese citizen first.

What did Hunter say?

Hunter said that the proposal to begin negotiations on the FTA after the "Brexit" between Britain and China was proposed by Wang Yi. "We welcome this proposal and discuss it."

Hunter also said, "We have discussed extensively topics that have a strong consensus, such as the importance of free trade and the promotion of prosperity on a global scale, defending the rules. based on the international order, etc. The field of disagreement. "

Hunter's statement appears to be around US President Trump's trade war with China and the European Union. Wang Yi said on the same occasion that the responsibility of the Sino-US trade imbalance is not in China, that the door of China's dialogue and negotiations is open, and that anyone engaging in a unilateralism will be isolated.

Johnson resigned due to a disagreement with Prime Minister Theresa May, and Hunter, who took over, said that he hopes that when Teresa May will visit China in February this year, the two countries will sign a total Further progress has been made in the results of the economic and trade contract of 9 billion pounds sterling.

The Reuters badysis believes that the negotiation of trade agreements with China is a political victory for the British government, but the UK must formally "leave" next year before to formally enter negotiations. The British Foreign Minister said that in addition to free trade, Hunter will discuss with China sanctions against North Korea, the Iranian nuclear issue, the Russian threat, the Syrian war and how China and the Kingdom Can cooperate to address common challenges.

In addition to having co-hosted a strategic dialogue with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Hunter also met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and the Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Yang Jiezhen, director of the Office of the Central Committee for Foreign Affairs.