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OTTAWA — The foreign ministers of Canada and the United Kingdom are warning that hundreds of thousands of citizens in Hong Kong could be in jeopardy due to a new law that would allow China to claw back substantial power over the region — warnings that the Chinese embassy in Canada has denounced as “irresponsible” and “crude interference.”

A pro-China Hong Kong government recently proposed a law that would newly allow the Chinese authoritarian state to demand the surrender of individuals from the commercial hub to the mainland.

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“We are concerned about the potential effect of these proposals on the large number of Canadian and U.K. citizens in Hong Kong, on business confidence and on Hong Kong’s international reputation,” says a statement from Chrystia Freeland and Jeremy Hunt released Thursday morning.

The proposals could impact negatively on “rights and freedoms,” the ministers’ statement reads. “It is vital that extradition arrangements in Hong Kong are in line with ‘one country, two systems’ and fully respect Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy. We have made these views clear in our respective conversations with the Hong Kong government.”