The Pulse：Interview with British Consul General to HK & Macao, Andrew Heyn

Since the Handover, the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary has reported to parliament every six months on the implementation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
The latest report, released last month, covers the second half of last year. Among matters mentioned are the banning of the Hong Kong National Party, the political screening of election candidates, and the expulsion of the Asia News Editor of the Financial Times. It suggests that Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy is “being reduced”, and that there’s a “move towards a mainland Chinese interpretation” of civil and political freedoms. The UK Parliament’s Human Rights Committee also published a report last month. It says the government’s six-monthly reports “appear insufficient” to protect the basic freedoms of people in Hong Kong, and that such freedoms are eroding. With me is the British Consul General to Hong Kong and Macao, Andrew Heyn to talk about it.

And that’s it for this week but we’ll leave you with images of the massive fire that broke out on Tuesday at the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris which has towered over France’s capital since the Middle Ages. President Macron promises it will be rebuilt within five years but for now the people of France are still shocked by what appears to have been a tragic accident.