Foreign Office Minister reaffirms UK commitment to rights of Hong Kong
Mark Field, the UK Minister for Asia, arrived in Hong Kong today to reaffirm the UK’s long standing commitment to the city.
The Minister will meet Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and James Lau, the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, to discuss trade and investment, economic cooperation and the UK-Hong Kong relationship.
He will also discuss the political situation in Hong Kong with legislators from a range of political backgrounds. He will stress the UK’s continued firm commitment to the Joint Declaration and ‘One Country, Two Systems’, which were put in place to ensure the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and guarantee the city’s rights and freedoms when it was handed back to China in July 1997.
The Minister will make clear that it is essential that Hong Kong enjoys, and is seen to enjoy, the full measure of its high degree of autonomy and commitment to the rule of law enshrined in the Joint Declaration and Basic Law.
During the visit he will also take part in a British Council hosted roundtable discussion with Hong Kong’s younger generation.
Mark Field, Foreign & Commonwealth Office Minister for Asia and the Pacific, said:
Hong Kong is of great importance to the UK, and our long-standing commitment to Hong Kong as co-signatory of the Joint Declaration is as strong as ever. I am delighted to be the first UK Minister to visit Hong Kong since the 20th anniversary of the handover earlier this year.
The UK remains committed to strengthening its deep and wide-ranging relationship with Hong Kong across a number of areas, including trade and investment, education, culture, innovation and technology, and I look forward to discussing these issues and more during my visit.
The visit will be the second stop of the Minister’s tour of Asia, which also includes mainland China, South Korea and Singapore.
Background
- the visit is Mark Field’s first to Hong Kong since becoming Minister for Asia and the Pacific at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in June 2017
- Hong Kong is UK’s 15th largest market for goods and services combined, exporting £8.8 billion in 2015
- Hong Kong is the third largest sending market of undergraduate students to UK universities
Further information
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