Chinese embassy condemns UK’s ‘flagrant interference’ in Hong Kong affairs after jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s son meets British foreign secretary
- British Foreign Secretary David Cameron says he met Jimmy Lai’s son to ‘listen to his concerns for his father’
- Embassy says it firmly opposes British politicians’ emboldening of Lai, describing him as ‘one of the most notorious anti-China elements’
The embassy on Tuesday slammed British Foreign Secretary David Cameron for meeting Lai’s son Sebastien Lai Sung-yan earlier in the day in London. Cameron said he wanted to “listen to his concerns for his father”.
“The UK opposes the national security law and will continue to stand by Jimmy Lai and the people of [Hong Kong],” the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Beijing imposed the national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 to target acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign organisations.
Jimmy Lai, a British national, is the founder of the now-defunct, opposition-friendly Apple Daily newspaper. He is set to go on trial next Monday for charges related to the security law and the colonial-era sedition law.
The media mogul had been charged with two counts of conspiracy to collude with external forces, one count of collusion with external forces and one count of publishing seditious publications.
Jimmy Lai trial will show how ‘bad’ his actions were: Hong Kong security chief
The Chinese embassy said Beijing firmly opposed what it called British politicians’ emboldening of Lai, describing him as “one of the most notorious anti-China elements bent on destabilising Hong Kong”.
It strongly condemned Britain’s “egregious interference” in the city and called Lai a “major plotter and instigator of the anti-China riots in Hong Kong”.
Support for him constituted “a flagrant interference in a case that had already entered judicial proceedings”, it added.
“This further exposes Jimmy Lai’s long-term collusion with the UK side,” the embassy said, stressing the legal action against Lai was “entirely lawful, legitimate and justified”.
Lai, who turned 76 a few days ago, has been detained since December 2020. He was previously sentenced to five years and nine months in prison for other offences.
Since Lai’s imprisonment, his son has travelled to the United States, Canada and Britain to lobby for support for his father.
The younger Lai earlier said he was worried his father might be convicted in the coming trial and spend the rest of his life in prison.
Sebastien Lai accepted an honorary citizen award from France last Saturday on behalf of his father.
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On the same day, imprisoned activist Chow Hang-tung was named among 12 recipients of a human rights award by France and Germany.
Organisers of the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law honouring “the inalienable human rights of all people” said the winners fought for universal rights, often risking their own safety in the process.
Chow is a former member of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the organiser of the June 4 vigils in the city.
Chow and two others were found guilty in March for failing to comply with a notice issued by national security police asking for details about the group’s members, donors, financial reports and activities dating as far back as 1989.
They are appealing to overturn their convictions on the grounds that they have been denied a fair trial.
Chow, who has been detained for more than two years as she awaits a separate subversion trial, remains in custody.
3 members of Hong Kong June 4 vigil group to face trial without jury
The Hong Kong government on Wednesday criticised the French and German foreign ministries for awarding Chow their “so-called human rights prize”.
“Chow’s case is undergoing judicial proceedings, but the French and German foreign ministries awarding Chow in the name of ‘human rights’ and ‘rule of law’ obviously contradicts the spirit of respecting the law,” a government spokesman said.
