The Prime Minister has said she intends to raise concerns about potential human rights violations in Hong Kong with President XI Jinping when she meets him on her critical trade mission to China.
Article 35 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China stipulates that citizens of the PRC should enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession, and of demonstration. Article 39 of the Hong Kong Basic Law stipulates that the people of the SAR have the right to self-determination under the two internationalhuman rights conventions. The people of Hong Kong cannot take their rights for granted. In Switzerland the threshold for petitioning a referendum is only 50,000 signatures, and with that citizens can express their opinion through the ballot box instead of taking to the streets. The people have the right to hold referendums on any public issue. For more, see the Charter for Permanent Peace.
