EU Parliament Must Reject China Investment Pact Following Hong Kong Mass Arrests: Patten
Share

Following mass arrests of opposition figures in Hong Kong earlier on Wednesday, Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, urged the European Parliament to reject the investment agreement the European Commission reached with the Chinese regime last week. More than 50 pro-democracy activists, former lawmakers, and politicians were arrested in Hong Kong on Jan 6. They were arrested on suspicion of subversion, a crime under Beijing’s national security law, for their roles in a primary vote held by the pan-democracy camp to pick candidates to run in the since-canceled 2020 Legislative Council (LegCo) elections. These were the largest mass arrests since the national security law went into effect on June 30, 2020. The law punishes crimes such as subversion and secession with a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. Chris Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong and a patron of human rights NGO Hong Kong Watch, said the …