Britain said Wednesday that it is withdrawing its judges from Hong Kong’s top court because keeping them there would “legitimize oppression” in the former British colony.
British judges have sat on the court since Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997. The British government’s move underscores the Asian financial hub’s growing isolation as the ruling Chinese Communist Party works to assert its control and silence independent voices.
The government said it was “no longer tenable for serving U.K. judges” to sit on the Court of Final Appeal because of the increasingly oppressive laws enacted by China. The two British judges on the court submitted their resignations Wednesday.
China has gradually chipped away at Hong Kong’s separate political, legal and social institutions in recent years. Those efforts include passage of the sweeping National Security Law in 2020 and changes to the electoral system that have effectively ended political opposition in the territory.
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