The use of live ammunition against protestors by police in Hong Kong this week has further inflamed tensions there. This episode should shock the international community. It constitutes a blatant crime, by the Chinese Government forces, against its own unarmed citizens: a crime that brought disgrace upon the Chinese nation on the very day on which she proclaimed her own glory on the Chinese National Day.
The timing of the incident was more than just ironic. It was an outrage.
The British Government must lead calls to ostracise China over its unjust treatment of protestors. Britain has a special obligation towards Hong Kong, given the UK’s role in devising the treaty that handed the former colony to China. The conditions specified in that treaty are now not being adequately respected by China, and Britain must respond accordingly. I look forward to seeing a suitably robust response from the relevant UK Government ministers.