On Thursday 13 June, the European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, adopted the annual reports on political and economic developments in the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao in 2023.
The first report on Hong Kong highlights the continuing erosion of the rights and freedoms of its people and the dismantling of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle. It looks back at the electoral review of district councils, adopted on 6 July, which reduced the number of directly elected members to less than a fifth. No ‘pro-democracy’ candidate qualified.
The EU also reports that in 2023, the National Security Law was applied extraterritorially for the very first time.
“This development undermines confidence in the rule of law in Hong Kong and affects Hong Kong’s position as an international business hub”, said Mr Borrell.
However, the report notes that the EU remained Hong Kong’s largest foreign business community and third largest trading partner, after mainland China and Taiwan.
The report on Macao also takes account of the growing importance attached to national security, raising fears of an erosion of fundamental freedoms and also of the principle of ‘one country, two systems’.
In 2023, Macao adopted several new laws implementing the political doctrine of the “patriots ruling Macao”, such as the amendment to the 2009 National Security Law, adopted in May, broadening the scope of the law.
Links to the reports: https://aeur.eu/f/cmy ; https://aeur.eu/f/cmx (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)