Today, the European Union called on China to "respect the autonomy of Hong Kong" in a declaration adopted by its 27 member states after Beijing's announcement of a draft law on preserving Hong Kong's national security.
"The European Union attaches great importance to the preservation of Hong Kong's high level of autonomy, in accordance with the basic law and international obligations, as well as respecting that principle," said the head of European diplomacy, Joseph Borrell, in a declaration on behalf of the European twenty-seven, according to Agence France-Presse.
At the session of its parliament, which began its session yesterday after several months of delay due to the coronavirus, China submitted a bill on national security in Hong Kong, a city that has the status of semi-autonomy.
This move by China comes after months of pro-democracy protests last year, which were sometimes violent and clashed with police and demonstrators, the biggest crisis in the city since it was returned to China in 1997 after decades of British colonial rule.
The bill, one of the most controversial items on the agenda of the National People's Congress in recent years, has drawn strong criticism from the US government and human rights organizations as well as pro-democracy lawmakers from Hong Kong.
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