Lord Patten on Hong Kong handover anniversary
The former Governor of Hong Kong says the promise made to territory鈥檚 people in 1997 has been broken.
When the UK returned Hong Kong to China in 1997, the last words of the departing British Governor to the people of the territory were: 鈥淣ow Hong Kong people are to run Hong Kong. That is the promise. And that is the unshakeable destiny鈥�.
Twenty-five years on, Lord Patten - the man who made that pledge - says it has been broken.
鈥淚t was based on the perhaps misguided assumption, which some of us had occasional doubts about, that the Chinese Communist Party鈥� would keep their word and they have pretty comprehensively broken their word,鈥� he told HARDtalk鈥檚 Sarah Montague.
鈥淚t is true that the Chinese have produced their version of democracy,鈥� he said.
But claimed that: 鈥淎t the moment anybody who actually believes in democracy doesn鈥檛 get a look in. The only people who get elected鈥� are those who will do what they are told鈥�.
Before the handover, China promised to protect democratic freedoms for 50 years in the special administrative region - but new laws introduced in 2020 have effectively silenced all criticism in the territory.
The government in Beijing can veto changes to the political system, and pro-democracy forces have been frustrated by what they see as the slow pace of political reform.
