Hong Kong has slammed the United Kingdom over a twice-yearly report that raised concerns about “transnational repression,” published after the city issued arrest warrants for UK-based pro-democracy activists last December.
The city’s government “strongly condemns and rejects the UK’s attempt through a so-called six-monthly report to make misleading and irresponsible remarks about Hong Kong matters, wantonly put politics above the rule of law and attempt to interfere” in local affairs, a spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday.
The UK foreign secretary has reported to the country’s parliament every six months on Hong Kong since the former British colony was handed back to China in July 1997.
In the latest report covering the period between July and December 2024, published on Thursday, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he was “deeply concerned” that Hong Kong police had issued arrest warrants against Hongkongers living in the UK for “exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression.”
“The Prime Minister and I have met these individuals and heard about the wider chilling effect that transnational repression is having on the Hong Kong diaspora,” Lammy said in the report, adding that London would not tolerate foreign powers intimidating individuals living in the UK.
On December 24, Hong Kong police placed a HK$1 million bounty each on six people residing overseas – four of them in the UK – accusing them of inciting secession and collusion with foreign forces.
In a statement released late on Thursday, a Hong Kong government spokesperson said those individuals were wanted because they faced national security allegations, adding that the UK had similar measures against people wanted by authorities.
The spokesperson said the timing was “indeed a demonstration of hypocrisy with double standards by the UK with ulterior motives.”
National security laws
The spokesperson also dismissed Lammy’s claim that enforcement and prosecutions under the national security laws in Hong Kong had constituted an “erosion of rights and freedoms.”
The spokesperson said the city’s national security laws – including the Beijing-imposed legislation and the homegrown “Article 23” – have restored normalcy to the city’s economy and people’s livelihoods after the protests and unrest in 2019.
Prosecutions were carried out based on evidence and in accordance with the law, the spokesperson added.
Lammy’s latest report also highlighted prominent events in Hong Kong during the second half of last year, including the sentencing of 45 opposition figures convicted of conspiring to commit subversion in November. The group, representing a cross-section of the city’s pro-democracy camp, were jailed for up to 10 years for the offence.
The foreign secretary also mentioned the ongoing trial of media tycoon Jimmy Lai, a British national; the convictions of two top Stand News editors of sedition; and people who were arrested during the protests and unrest in 2019.
“The lives of thousands arrested during the 2019 protests remain in limbo five years on as they await formal charges,” he added.
Hong Kong arrested over 10,000 people during the protests and unrest in 2019. Among them, about 3,000 have been prosecuted.
To date, there are 19 people wanted by the Hong Kong police on suspicion of committing national security offences.
Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”
Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.
