US and UK condemn Hong Kong bounties for exiled political dissidents

Get Free Hong Kong Politics Updates

we will send you one myFT Daily Digest Latest Email Rounding hong kong politics News every morning.

China has accused Britain and the US of “sheltering criminals”, as both governments slammed Hong Kong authorities for issuing rewards totaling $1 million this week for eight exiled political activists.

China’s foreign ministry criticized the countries on Tuesday for “openly condemning Hong Kong’s national security law and interfering with the rule of law and normal law enforcement in the territory”.

The ministry’s branch in Hong Kong said in a statement: “We warn external foreign forces to immediately stop harboring criminals and taking advantage of ‘pawns’ who attempt to disrupt Hong Kong and control China.” “

Britain’s Foreign Secretary and the US State Department have attacked Beijing for threatening the rights of exiled Hong Kongers and the “extra-territorial reach” of the national security law, which Beijing imposed on the territory in 2020 in the wake of citywide pro-democracy protests. did.

Hong Kong police on Monday announced a HK$1 million (US$128,000) reward each for information leading to the arrest of eight self-exiled activists – more than the rewards for many wanted arsonists and murderers who are wanted. Has been accused of crimes including secession. And colluding with foreign forces.

Activists based in the UK, US and Australia include Nathan Law, Hong Kong’s youngest lawmaker and one of the most prominent pro-democracy figures, as well as former legislators Dennis Kwok and Ted Hui and Kevin Yam. , an Australian civil and commercial lawyer.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverley said the country “will not tolerate any attempts by China to intimidate and silence people in the UK and abroad”. The US State Department called for the bounties to be withdrawn immediately, saying they set a “dangerous precedent that threatens the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people around the world”.

Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said Canberra has “consistently expressed concern about the widespread application of national security legislation to arrest or pressure pro-democracy figures”.

The move to target dissidents overseas comes as Hong Kong’s government seeks to reinvigorate the territory’s pandemic-ravaged economy by luring foreign business and talent, after three years of tough COVID-19 restrictions and The political crackdown led to the exodus of more than 140,000 people from the workforce. ,

More than 10,000 people were arrested during Hong Kong’s anti-government protests in 2019 and nearly 260 have been held under the national security law, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, including businessmen and journalists.

Chinese authorities have silenced protests in the city after protests, quashing civil society and shutting down independent media outlets. Mass protests have disappeared, patriotic courses have been introduced in schools and the city’s legislature is now filled with uniformly pro-Beijing lawmakers.

In a statement on Tuesday, China’s embassy in London accused UK politicians of “using these anti-China dissidents to threaten China’s sovereignty and security”.

The reward was announced less than two weeks after the state-backed Ta Kung Pao newspaper called on authorities to hold the exiled activists, who condemned the move.

Nathan Law wrote on Twitter, “I ask Hong Kongers not to cooperate with any related search or bounty operation.” “We shouldn’t limit ourselves, self-censor, intimidate, or live in fear.”

Hong Kong leader John Lee warned the eight on Tuesday that it was “the only way to end their fate as fugitives”. , , surrender”, while warning that he would be “chased for life”.

“You never know,” Chief Superintendent Steve Lee of the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force told a news conference. “Maybe someday they will come back to Hong Kong through other illegal means. Such information should be very useful to us.

Additional reporting by Yuan Yang in London