United States and Britain on Friday led the efforts to raise the issues of erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedom at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Friday. This came even as China angrily sought to dismiss the genuine concerns of the international community.
Being one of the five veto- wielding Permanent Members, China can prevent any sort of formal discussion on this topic, let alone any action.
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However, Britain and the US said that this was in a closed-door informal digital meeting in which China could do little to prevent any discussion.
US and Britain had called for an “emergency” meeting.
The meeting took place on Friday with all members of the Security Council present digitally.
Permanent Ambassador of the US to UN Kelly Craft tweeted saying that the “free world must stand with the people of Hong Kong”.
Differences between the UNSC’s Permanent members were visible on Friday. It is these differences that have been often used to prevent any meaningful discussion that affects international peace and security.
“We never discuss internal matters of member states”, tweeted Russian Envoy Dmitry Polyanskiy.
He added: “It is like opening a pandora box and could make damage for the US itself. “
Chinese Foreign Minister Spokesperson Zhao Lijian reacted strongly and said: “We urge the US to immediately stop this senseless political manipulation”.
The outcome of the meeting remains unclear.