Japan on Tuesday delivered what amounted to its toughest words yet to China on the issue of Hong Kong, after Beijing reportedly passed a sweeping national security law for the city that Tokyo said would shake international faith in the “one-country, two-systems” principle.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, speaking at a regular news briefing, called the move “regrettable,” noting that it had come in the face of “strong concerns from the international community and citizens of Hong Kong.”
“The enactment of the national security law undermines the credibility of the ‘one-country, two-systems’ principle,” Suga said, adding that Japan would continue to cooperate with concerned countries on appropriate responses.