Britain criticised what it said was the systematic erosion of freedoms in Hong Kong by the Chinese government and a crackdown on free speech by authorities in the former British colony. The criticism, contained in the government’s latest six-monthly report on Hong Kong, accused China of diminishing the way of life promised to the people of Hong Kong and repeated its view that Beijing had broken the terms of its 1997 handover. “Freedoms are being systematically eroded by Beijing on multiple fronts, tightening the restrictions on the lives of ordinary Hong Kongers,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in the foreword of the report, which covered the first half of 2022. (https://neuters.de/world/china/britain-criticises-erosion-freedoms-hong-kong-2023-01-12/) Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule more than 25 years ago with a deal guaranteeing a high degree of autonomy, including freedom of speech, under a “one country, two systems” formula.