Hong Kong, Beijing slam UK report’s ‘smears’ over national security law

Beijing has slammed “irresponsible remarks” by Britain after a UK report said Hong Kong’s national security law had further diminished the openness that underpinned the city’s success.

In the United Kingdom’s latest six-month monitoring report on Hong Kong, released on Thursday, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said he was “deeply concerned and disturbed” by the continued imprisonment of former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, who was jailed for 20 years over national security offences.

“We continue to call for his immediate release and will raise his case consistently as part of our frank and constructive engagement with the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities,” he said.

In the report’s foreword, Miliband said Lai’s case, alongside recent developments in the trial of former leaders of the now-disbanded alliance behind the city’s annual Tiananmen Square vigil and activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung, had reinforced concerns about the “increasingly broad application” of national security legislation.

“Since 2020, the Beijing-imposed national security law has restricted rights and freedoms, stifled debate and further diminished the openness that underpinned Hong Kong’s success,” he wrote.

Under the scheme, rolled out after the enactment of the national security law, more than 187,000 people had been issued BN(O) visas since 2021.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London hit out at the “irresponsible remarks on Hong Kong affairs” by the UK, which constituted “gross interference” in its internal affairs.

“China firmly opposes this and has made solemn representations to the UK,” he said.

The spokesman said security and the rule of law were being effectively upheld in the city, while governance efficiency and the business environment had improved.

“China urges the UK to abandon its colonial mentality, respect China’s sovereignty and Hong Kong’s rule of law, stop issuing the so-called six-monthly report, and stop interfering in China’s internal affairs and Hong Kong affairs in any way,” he said.