Five Eyes group urges China crackdown end

The Five Eyes intelligence sharing group warned China on Thursday to reverse its crackdown on Hong Kong opposition politicians.

David Mahon, a Kiwi who's been working in private equity investing in China for nearly three decades, told Heather du Plessis-Allan questions what the motive is for New Zealand to make this statement.

"It is only natural that those who love the country and Hong Kong should govern Hong Kong, while those anti-China disrupters who stir up troubles in Hong Kong should be knocked out", Zhao concluded.

The five countries stated that "China's action is a clear violation of its worldwide obligations under the UN-registered Sino-British joint declaration, which is legally bound".

Mr Zhao said: "No matter if they have five eyes or 10 eyes, if they dare to harm China's sovereignty, security and development interests, they should beware of their eyes being poked and blinded".

The four disqualified lawmakers were earlier barred from running for re-election due to their calls for foreign governments to impose sanctions on China and Hong Kong.

Britain China now considers the joint declaration to have been violated three times, Including the National Security Act for Hong Kong introduced this year.

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Beijing's actions in Hong Kong have received widespread criticism from global community.

The foreign ministers expressed concern that the move would further undermine Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy and rights and freedoms, and urged the Chinese and Hong Kong governments to reconsider their actions.

Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu, Kwok Ka-ki, and Dennis Kwok Wing-hang - all Civic Party members - and Kenneth Leung Kai-cheong, of the Professionals Guild, lost their seats in LegCo and were barred from running in the next election, which has been indefinitely postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The latest row comes a week after Dominic Raab said the move by Beijing represented a "clear breach" of the declaration.

Hong Kong's pro-democracy lawmakers recently resigned en masse in protest of China's handling of Hong Kong.

The UK and its four allies voiced "serious concern" at China's new rules.

The most recent previous occasion was past year when China imposed national security legislation, giving it sweeping powers to curtail protest and suppress dissent in the territory.