UK’s UN ambassador calls for cooperation while Beijing slams Truss for Hong Kong comments

The British ambassador to the UN has given an interview to Chinese state media in which she claimed the UK will continue working closely with China on international security.

In an interview with China News Service Ms Woodward claimed that “cooperation is important for the UK and China and for the international community as a whole.”

This comes just hours after China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs slammed foreign secretary Liz Truss as “irresponsible” after she criticised the disqualification of District Councillors in Hong Kong.

In a statement released on Friday, Ms Truss said: “It is deeply concerning that 55 District Councillors have been disqualified and over 250 pressured to resign for political reasons – the first time that such action has been taken against democratically elected District Councillors in the Hong Kong SAR. This comes as trade unions, interest groups and NGOs have been forced to disband.

“The Hong Kong SAR Government must uphold freedom of speech and allow the public a genuine choice of political representatives.”

Her remarks came after the news that the Hong Kong government has disqualified 16 more district councillors from the New Territories, Hong Kong’s geographically largest region, where half of its population resides.

This decision means only around 60 pro-democracy councillors remain in office across Hong Kong, a ‘special administrative region’(SAR) of China.