EU Foreign Affairs Council: Remarks on China by the HighRepresentative/Vice-President Josep Borrell at the press conference

On China, for sure we discussed the imposition of the draconian national security legislation in Hong Kong. We all have serious questions about its conformity with [Hong Kong’s] Basic Law and with China’s international commitments. 

Our message in this context is two-fold. First, to the people in Hong Kong, [we stressed] the support of the European Union for their autonomy and fundamental freedoms. We will continue to stand by the people of Hong Kong.

To China, the message is that the recent actions change the rules. This will require a revision of our approach and will clearly have an impact on our relations.

I have proposed that we work on a coordinated European Union approach with a mix of actions at EU level and at Member State level.

Q. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Heiko Maas over the weekend said there would be initial proposals to be tabled for discussion. Could you give us more details on what was actually discussed, does that include potential arms embargo to the Hong Kong police or does that include suspending extradition treaties with the Hong Kong authorities? What do you think can be done on the EU level as well?

We have agreed today to develop a coordinated European Union response to show support for Hong Kong’s autonomy and civil society. This will comprise both measures at European Union level and also measures falling under the Member States national competence in a coordinated approach. Everything will be done in coordination with Member States and the package of measures will constitute a comprehensive European Union response. Some Member States may already announce national measures as part of this package in the coming days according with our discussions today.

In these discussions some ideas where under consideration. I am not going to list all of them but for example we looked at the possibility to further scrutinise the export of specific and sensitive technologies to Hong Kong. We assessed the implications of the national security law for Member States’ extradition agreement with Hong Kong and travel advice, and looked at possibilities to step-up scholarships for Hong Kong students. And we have also been discussing at European Union level the asylum and migration implications of the national security law, including looking at visa possibilities for Hongkongers, although visa are a competence of the Member States but it has been widely discussed today.

Full version in English here: https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/82792/foreign-affairs-council-remarks-high-representativevice-president-josep-borrell-press_en