The United Kingdom government’s eagerness to strike a free trade pact with the United States after Brexit, among other things, has been exploited by Washington to secure London’s support for the US’ geopolitical strategy against China — even at the expense of Britain’s national interests.

Whether under the administration of prime ministers Boris Johnson, Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak, the UK government has always toed the line whenever Washington has launched major policies against China, such as in the cases of its clampdown on Huawei 5G technology and Chinese electric vehicles. As a result, UK-China relations have witnessed a significant setback from the “golden era” of close bilateral ties under the administration of David Cameron, who, as the British prime minister, hosted President Xi Jinping for a state visit in 2015.

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Ever since Washington designated China as one of the US’ major strategic rivals in late 2017, London has been Washington’s faithful sidekick in the latter’s wave after wave of geopolitical offensives against China, including in playing the “Hong Kong card”.

Whenever London and its politicians have found the need to poke their noses into Hong Kong’s affairs, for example in cooking up the UK’s “six-monthly report” on Hong Kong, they have claimed that Britain has the right to do so, invariably citing the Sino-British Joint Declaration.

The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) cited the Joint Declaration again in its latest “six-monthly report” issued on Thursday, which harps on the same points as previous such “reports” have in recent years, hurling libelous remarks about Hong Kong’s freedoms, civil rights and its implementation of national security laws.

The underlying logic is straightforward: London retains a say in how Hong Kong should be run even after the city, taken from China by force in the mid-19th century, was already returned to China in 1997. This is tantamount to asserting that a robber should have a say in how the goods that he stole are handled.    

It is self-deceptive of London to wield the Joint Declaration to justify its meddling in Hong Kong’s affairs. It is a clumsy sleight of hand for it to claim the moral high ground in its attempts to interfere in China’s internal affairs and challenge its sovereignty over the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The truth is, the Joint Declaration is a pair of linked statements by China and the UK, with the former declaring China’s decision to resume exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong on July 1, 1997; and the latter declaring that the UK would restore Hong Kong to China with effect from that date. The document in no way awards London any right to meddle in Hong Kong’s affairs after its return to China.

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The return of Hong Kong to China, was the rightful end to a grave injustice the UK committed against the Chinese people. British politicians who claim China is in some way accountable to them in its governing of its own territory, Hong Kong — which is part of China — are delusional.

The six-monthly reports on Hong Kong issued by the FCDO in recent years have invariably aimed denigrating remarks at Hong Kong on many aspects — in line with Washington’s tune. London’s practice of issuing unsolicited reports every six months on the internal affairs of another jurisdiction is ridiculous and contravenes international norms and principles; it only reminds the world of the UK’s disgraceful imperialist past and interventionist propensity; it does not serve the UK’s interests.

The author is a current affairs commentator.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.