Hong Kong economy, legal system hurt since handover to China: UK think-tank

A British think tank has said that Hong Kong has gone backward on citizen rights, human rights and legal rights after 20 years of the transfer of sovereignty to China.

The Asian Research Center of the Henry Jackson Institute released a research report "20 Years after Hong Kong's Handover," in which it states that Beijing interference in Hong Kong's system and autonomy, has impacted it's economy, politics and legal system.

The report said that the democratisation and legal rights of Hong Kong have suffered an alarming and serious decline over the past 10 years.

China has done some direct and indirect damage to Hong Kong's legislative procedures and judicial system, obeying these two areas Beijing; law enforcement officials in China used illegal abductions to deal with those who challenged China's leadership; Hong Kong's ranking of "Media Freedom in the World" at Reporters without Borders dropped from 18th in 2002 to 73th in 2017, Voice of America's Chinese website reported.

The report is divided into 9 chapters and is devoted to the writing by British and Hong Kong academics and politicians.