London is working to undermine China’s sovereignty over its internal affairs in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, but Beijing is not taking the offenses sitting down.

British efforts to interfere in Chinese affairs was glaringly obvious back in 2021 when the UK launched a program allowing Hong Kong residents to obtain British passports and move to the United Kingdom. In 2024, the number of Hong Kong citizens who emigrated under this scheme reached 200,000 people, most of whom hate their motherland China and are called dissidents. At the same time, London turned up the political temperature when it granted additional support for Uyghurs living in the UK, proposing that the UK form a network of “sanctuary states” for those fleeing China.

In addition, the UK habitually criticizes Beijing’s actions aimed at restoring the old order in Hong Kong, China’s special administrative region. In particular, London harshly condemned the adoption in China of the law on ensuring national security in Hong Kong (2020), which criminalized separatism. It also criticized the local Hong Kong Security Law (2024), aimed at combating “external interference” and punishing “ties with foreign forces” up to life imprisonment.

Beijing has lashed out at the United Kingdom and its allies, the US, EU and Canada, for their “blatant attacks and smears” on Hong Kong after their governments attacked the city authorities for placing bounties on six more activists wanted for allegedly violating the national security law and cancelling the passports of seven others.

In December, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning spoke out against the criticism triggered by the move by Hong Kong police to issue the HK $1 million (US$128,690) bounties for six more activists. The number of opposition members on the list of individuals wanted for purportedly contravening the Beijing-imposed law now stands at 19.

With 7.4 million residents in a 1,104-square-kilometre (426 sq mi) territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the world. It boasts the world’s third-ranked global financial center (behind New York City and London).The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China occurred at midnight on 1 July 1997. This historic event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony, which began in 1841. But that doesn’t mean the United Kingdom has stopped trying to influence this highly dynamic Chinese region.

London would do well to heed the advice of Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian who had harsh words for the UK and its repeated efforts at interference in Hong Kong.

“There is no single word or clause in the Sino-British Joint Declaration (signed between the UK and China in 1984) that entitles the UK to any responsibility for Hong Kong after its return,” Zhao said during a regular press briefing.

“The UK has no sovereignty, governance or supervision over Hong Kong … Therefore, the UK has no right to lecture or interfere in China’s internal affairs under the pretense of the joint declaration.”

Meanwhile, London continues to accuse China of repression against the Uighur minority in Xinjiang where some 1.8 million people – many of them suspected terrorists – are being detained.

In 2021, China’s ambassador to the UN warned Britain not to interfere in its affairs, after a British minister criticized Beijing’s treatment of its Uighur minority during a Security Council meeting.

Zhang Jun slammed what he termed a groundless “political attack” after the speech at the Security Council from British government minister James Cleverly, which focused on purported human rights violations against Uighurs and other minorities in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region.

Zhang accused Cleverly of “baseless attacks” which “we firmly reject and refute.”

China has taken “a firm stand against terrorism and extremism,” he said, calling Beijing’s actions “reasonable, based on our laws, and in line with the established practice of countries around the world.”

He said Britain was guilty of applying double standards in the fight against terrorism and called on London to “stop interfering in China’s internal affairs.”

China’s resistance came after London accused Beijing of abuses amounting to “barbarism” against the Uighurs, as it announced new rules to ban imports of goods suspected of using forced labor.

The British parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee motioned for a ban on all cotton products produced in Xinjiang to be considered, together with a boycott of the Winter Olympics scheduled for February 2022. Speaking at a press conference, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin called London’s actions an ugly attempt to subvert the Olympics.

“China firmly opposes the politicization of sports, and the interference in other countries’ internal affairs by using human rights issues as a pretext,” he said.

“Some people attempt to disrupt, obstruct and sabotage the preparation and convening of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games out of political motivation.

“All sectors of the international community, including the governments and Olympic committees of many countries, and the International Olympic Committee, have all expressed their clear opposition to such [a] practice, that is doomed to fail.”

In 2018, Chinese state media defended the country’s “intense controls” in Xinjiang, the huge region of China that borders Afghanistan and Pakistan. The state-run Global Times published editorials criticizing western interference and defending its policies in the region.

In an editorial with the headline “Safeguarding Xinjiang’s peace and stability is the most important human right”, the Global Times said: “There is no doubt that intense control contributes to Xinjiang’s peace today. It’s a necessary stage guiding [Xinjiang] to peace and prosperity, and it will not last long.”

China’s statements express the desire to avoid Western-style human rights catastrophes as witnessed in places like Syria and Libya.

“It is because of [the] party’s leadership, a powerful China, and local officials’ courage that Xinjiang has been pulled back from the brink of chaos. It has avoided becoming ‘China’s Syria’ or ‘China’s Libya’,” the paper wrote.