The ‘Five Eyes’ is an intelligence alliance that comprises of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom for signal collection and intelligence. These five countries are also parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, which is a multilateral treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.
Key Points
- This alliance was formed during the post- World War II period and still remains one of the most comprehensive surveillance and espionage alliance.
- Several other countries including Japan and South Korea are said to be collaborating with the alliance. The US proposed Germany and France to join the intelligence alliance during various time periods.
Joint Statement of Five Eyes Countries in Hong Kong
The Foreign Ministers of the Five Eye countries have expressed concern about increasing Chinese threats on the autonomy of Hong Kong and its increasing imposition of rules. China recently disqualified elected legislators in Hong Kong by imposing new rules. The alliance also raised concern about the autonomy of Hong Kong which was provided under one country, two systems formula when the British Colonial rule ended in 1997. The group pointed out that this action of China is the clear breach of Sino-British Joint Declaration.
Sino-British Joint Declaration
It is a treaty signed on December 19, 1984 by China and the United Kingdom related to Hong Kong under Chinese sovereignty. As per the treaty the UN handed over Hong Kong to China. The government of China also declared its basic policies regarding Hong Kong during the treaty. As per the “one country, two systems” principle to which China and the UK agreed, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) would not practice the socialist system of China, and the existing capitalist system of Hong Kong would remain same and unchanged for next 50 years until 2047.