Johnson was referring to the months-long oath controversy triggered by pro-independence lawmakers-elect Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang and Yau Wai-ching last year, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
number of developments which caused concern in Hong Kong and internationally with respect to the implementation of 'one country, two systems'," UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson wrote in the foreword to the latest biannual report on the former British colony.
"These include the events surrounding the Legislative Council elections and the subsequent oath-taking by elected legislators; and continuing concerns about the exercise of rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Joint Declaration including freedom of expression and the freedom of the press," the report said.
Johnson was referring to the months-long oath controversy triggered by pro-independence lawmakers-elect Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang and Yau Wai-ching last year, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
The democratically elected pair were disqualified by a court after the government filed a legal bid over their anti- Beijing stance during a swearing-in ceremony including one of them displaying a banner "Hong Kong is not China".
In response, China's Parliament the National People's Congress in a resolution interpreting the Basic Law agreed during the transfer of power stated that the city's lawmakers should be sworn in properly and only be given one chance to do so. The ruling effectively led to their disqualification.
The UK Report said "we did not question the right of the Standing Committee to issue this interpretation, but were concerned about the timing of its release".
Prior to that, six localist candidates were barred from running in the Legco elections because of questions over their commitment to the declaration that Hong Kong is an inalienable part of China.
The UK report has also not satisfied the Hong Kong democracy activists who said it is inadequate.
"The British government's claim in its Six-Monthly Report on HK that the 1Country2Systems continued to function well is out of reality," Joshua Wong Chi-fung, prominent pro-democracy activist, said.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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