"We call on the PRC to uphold its international obligations and commitments and to act consistently with Hong Kong’s Basic Law. The PRC’s attempt to label its crackdown on Hong Kong as an “internal matter” ignores the commitments Beijing made in the Sino-British Joint Declaration to uphold Hong Kong’s autonomy and enumerated rights and freedoms until at least 2047." My addendum: "Until such time as the United States sees the CCP adhering to the BJT, we will grant special immigration status to those seeking to leave HK, etc." I am still confused. From what I understand, there was no legal/treaty requirement that the UK hand over HK in 1997. I think it was only the New Territories. Does anyone have a good resource for this issue, and why the UK decided to do something it did not have to do? Was this expediency? As one critic of the CCP and the UK recently commented, the UK doesn't have a government, it has a market, I think a reference to its commercial interests being above all else, which is what we are seeing at work in the United States, even to condoning a genocidal government.