The U.K. is about to test the risks of a wider confrontation with China that’s been a long time coming.
The next act is playing out Monday when Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab addresses Parliament. The top diplomat has dropped a heavy hint the U.K. will suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong, a former colony it handed back to China in 1997. The move would mark a further diplomatic escalation in a conflict that takes on the reach of Huawei Technologies Co. in post-Brexit Britain and the possibility of it sanctioning China over human rights abuses.
In a sign of growing tension, China’s ambassador to London threatened the U.K. with retaliation and accused it of bowing to U.S. pressure by banning Huawei from the U.K.’s 5G network. China also is irked by Prime Minister Boris Johnson inviting as many as 3 million Hong Kong residents to apply for U.K. citizenship.