The UK, of which Hong Kong is a former colony, encouraged China to back down on the security law per the provisions of the Sino-British Joint Declaration: terms of the UK handing sovereignty of Hong Kong to China included allowing Hong Kong to maintain autonomy and its British-based form of governance.[35] British First Secretary and Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary Dominic Raab explained the British perspective of needing to step in with China violating the Joint Declaration in their attempts to pursue the law.[2] On 3 June, the Chinese government announced that they consider the Joint Declaration to have become void as soon as power was transferred in 1997.[35]