Belgian Foreign minister Maxime Prévot called for a revival of dialogue between Belgium and Hong Kong during a meeting on Monday with Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee.
Relations between Hong Kong and the West came under strain in 2019–2020 following a reform of the electoral system and the passing of the National Security Law, which was seen as the most significant encroachment on autonomy since the British withdrawal.
In addition, the “one country, two systems” principle, which was intended to grant Hong Kong a high degree of political autonomy until 2047, has been significantly weakened, and there is a dynamic of assimilation from China. The EU decided to put relations with Hong Kong on the back burner after 2020, even though it did not go as far as the US, which imposed sanctions.
For Prévot, however, it is time to write a new chapter with Hong Kong, and he believes this realisation is also growing within the EU. Only in this way can it defend its interests and exert as much influence as possible on the local situation.
On Monday, as part of his economic and political mission to Hong Kong and China, he therefore had a “very open and honest” discussion with Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, he said, “without shying away from controversial topics such as freedoms and human rights”. In his view, relations are mature enough to reinforce one another, without having to agree on everything.
Prévot also described Hong Kong as “the main gateway” to the Chinese market, and, like prime minister Bart De Wever recently in a letter to Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, called for a collective EU strategy to better defend its interests despite the unbalanced trade relationship that currently exists between China and the EU. The issue will be discussed in the coming days during Prévot’s visit to China.
On Monday, Prévot also took a helicopter tour of the new large-scale “Northern Metropolis” infrastructure project, covering 30,000 hectares between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, which is set to house 2.5 million people.
Prévot described the project as “extremely impressive”, with its 13 billion euros per year in investment through public-private partnerships, which is unthinkable in Belgium. The fact that the project connects Shenzhen, China’s “technological heart”, with a new city of millions, demonstrates all the more, according to Prévot, that Europe must define a relevant strategy towards China.
Foreign minister Maxime Prévot in Hong Kong © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
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