The United States (US) and Britain on Friday defied China's anger by raising Hong Kong's autonomy at the United Nations (UN) Security Council as President Donald Trump prepared new measures against Beijing.Western criticism of China has escalated after it moved ahead this week on a security law that many Hong Kong residents fear would kill off the freedoms which Beijing promised before Britain handed over the territory in 1997.China is one of five powers to wield a veto at the Secur

In my final speech as Hong Kong’s governor on 30 June, 1997, a few hours before I left the city on Britain’s royal yacht, I remarked that, “Now, Hong Kong people are to run Hong Kong. That is the promise. And that is the unshakable destiny.”That promise was contained in the 1984 Joint Declaration, a treaty signed by China and the United Kingdom (UK) and lodged at the United Nations (UN).

China's parliament approved plans Thursday to impose a security law on Hong Kong that has ratcheted up tensions with the United States (US) and sparked new protests over fears the city is losing its special freedoms.The vote by the rubber-stamp National People's Congress (NPC) came hours after the US revoked the special status conferred on Hong Kong, paving the way for the territory to be stripped of trading and economic privileges.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the status h

The global backlash against China over its culpability for the international spread of the deadly coronavirus from Wuhan has gained momentum in recent weeks. And China itself has added fuel to the fire, as exemplified by its recent legal crackdown on Hong Kong.

China drew Western condemnation on Friday over plans for a national security law to quash Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement as it opened an annual congress that also laid bare the "immense" economic challenges caused by the coronavirus.The 3,000-member National People's Congress (NPC) began with a minute of silence for China's victims of the coronavirus before Premier Li Keqiang delivered his annual version of the United States (US) president's "state of th

Here are the latest developments in Asia related to the novel coronavirus pandemic: Wuhan Deaths RiseThe Chinese city where the coronavirus first emerged has raised its death toll by 50 percent to a total of 3,869.The revision came as a growing chorus of world leaders suggested China had not been entirely open about the full domestic impact of the virus.The additional deaths in Wuhan were cases that were "mistakenly reported" or missed entirely, according to the official an

President Xi Jinping warned Saturday that China was facing a "grave" situation as authorities took urgent action to halt the spread of a virus that has killed 41 people and is overwhelming hospitals at the epicentre of the health emergency.The world's most populous country scrambled to contain the disease that has already infected nearly 1,300 people, building a second field hospital to relieve overwhelmed medical facilities and closing more travel routes as the country marked

A huge New Year's Day pro-democracy rally in Hong Kong ended in mass arrests and clashes between police and hardcore protesters, as demonstrators sought to carry their movement's momentum into 2020.Hong Kong has been battered by nearly seven months of unrest - its biggest political crisis in decades - which has seen millions come out on the streets demanding greater democratic freedoms.Organisers claimed more than a million people gathered for Wednesday's rally, which had appro

Hong Kong police fired tear gas a few minutes into 2020 as pro-democracy protesters took their movement into the New Year with midnight countdown rallies and a massive march planned for 1 January.The city has been battered by more than six months of unrest with marches attended by millions, as well as confrontations in which police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets - and protesters have responded with petrol bombs.Before midnight on Tuesday, thousands of protesters gathered across the fi

At the beginning of his satirical novel China Dream, which has a cover designed by the dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, Ma Jian expresses his gratitude to George Orwell, author of 1984 and Animal Farm. Orwell, he says, “foretold it all.”Ma, whose work is banned in China and who lives in exile in London, is of course reflecting on Orwell’s warnings about the threat of a totalitarian future in which dictatorships brainwash people.