CHINA has warned Britain it will “bear the consequences” after Boris Johnson scrapped the extradition treaty.
The Communist state issued the threat just hours after the Prime Minister warned them over their behaviour.
Yesterday Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed that the UK will change the rules on extraditions to China as relations reached boiling point.
Now Chinese ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming has issued a furious response.
He said: “The UK blatantly interfered in China’s internal affairs and contravened international law and the basic norms governing international relations.
“China has never interfered in UK’s internal affairs. The UK should do the same to China.
“Otherwise it must bear the consequences.”
It comes after Mr Raab accused China of a “serious violation” and scrapped arms sales and extradition to Hong Kong.
He said: “We will not consider reactivating those measures unless there are clear and robust safeguards which are able to prevent extradition from the UK being misused under the new national security legislation.
“I will just say this the UK is watching and the whole world is watching.”
Mr Raab insisted Britain “wants a positive relationship with China”, but warned that it was not willing to look the other way.
He added: “We will always protect our vital interests, Including sensitive infrastructure, and we won’t accept any investment that compromises our domestic or national security.
“We will be clear where we disagree, and have been clear about the grave concerns regarding the gross human rights abuses being perpetrated against the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
“It is precisely because we acknowledge china’s role in the world that we expect China to live up to its responsibilities.”
It comes as tensions between the UK and China escalated after the Government banned Huawei – the Chinese Communist party owned telecoms giant – from the 5G network in Britain.
This included suspending Britain’s extradition to Hong Kong after national security laws meant those sent back could be hauled in front of Chinese courts and jailed in China.
The Government claims the change violated the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
The declaration was supposed to guarantee Hong Kong freedom from Chinese rule under the “one county, two systems” model for 50 years after the handover of the former British colony in 1997.
The law prohibits what Beijing views as secessionist, subversive or terrorist activities or as foreign intervention in Hong Kong affairs.
It grants police massive powers to conduct searches without warrants and order internet service providers and platforms to remove messages deemed to be anti-China.
The Government has already taken strong action, offering three million Hongkongers eligible for a British National (Overseas) passport a path to UK citizenship.
The Chinese ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming previously warned Britain not to enter into a “tit-for-tat” confrontation or follow the US in its sanctions on Chinese officials over alleged human rights abuses of Uighur muslims in Xinjiang.
