Britain urges China to rescind HK security law, allow access to Xinjiang

"High Commissioner, we encourage you to provide regular further information on Hong Kong and Xinjiang in order to safeguard rights and freedoms guaranteed under international law," Braithwaite said.

Britain urged China on Tuesday to reconsider its new national security law for Hong Kong, saying Beijing must preserve the right to assembly and free press in the former British colony. "We urge the Chinese and Hong Kong governments to reconsider the imposition of this legislation and to engage Hong Kong's people, institutions and judiciary to prevent further erosion of long-standing rights and freedoms," Julian Braithwaite, Britain's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told the Human Rights Council.

Speaking on behalf of 27 countries, he called for Chinese authorities to allow U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet "meaningful and early access" to its Xinjiang region amid reports of arbitrary detention and widespread surveillance of the Uighur minority. "High Commissioner, we encourage you to provide regular further information on Hong Kong and Xinjiang in order to safeguard rights and freedoms guaranteed under international law," Braithwaite said.