A day after British police charged three men with aiding and abetting Hong Kong intelligence services, the Chinese ambassador to the UK received a formal reprimand from the UK Foreign Office following recent signs of rising tensions between London and China. called.
The British government said it had summoned Ambassador Zheng Zeguang to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office after the three appeared in court on Monday.
“We have made it clear that China’s recent pattern of behavior towards the UK is unacceptable,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. They cited cyberattacks, espionage charges and the issuance of rewards for information leading to the prosecution of dissidents who fled Hong Kong and resettled in Britain after the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement.
The three, who appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday, were charged with gathering intelligence in Hong Kong, a former British colony that is a special administrative region of China, and forcibly entering a residential address in the UK.
They were identified as Chi Leong (Peter) Wai, 38, of Staines upon Thames. Matthew Trickett, 37, of Maidenhead. and Chong Biu Yuen, 63, of Hackney, East London.
Yuen, a former Hong Kong police officer, is the executive director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, one of Hong Kong’s 14 government branches outside China.
Mr Wye is a Border Force officer based at Heathrow Airport and a volunteer police officer in the City of London, the capital’s financial district. He is also the founder of London security firm D5. Its website says he has “over 20 years’ experience in the British military, police and private security sectors” and provides “an exclusive and discreet service to our clients”.
Mr Trickett is a British immigration enforcement officer, former Royal Marine and director of private security firm MTR Consultancy.
Hong Kong authorities confirmed that an official from London’s Department of Trade had been charged. In a statement on Monday, the government called on the UK to handle the case fairly and “protect the legitimate rights and interests of the head of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Authority allegedly involved.”
The Chinese embassy said it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns the so-called fabrication of events and unjustified accusations by the UK” against the Hong Kong government, and “made a serious statement to the UK.”
He added: “The UK has been making a series of accusations against China for some time, including ‘Chinese espionage’ and cyber attacks.” All these accusations are baseless and defamatory. ”
At a meeting on Tuesday, the Chinese embassy told Foreign Office officials that the UK “must stop playing anti-China political games and must not proceed further down a dangerous path that jeopardizes Sino-British relations.” ” was announced.
Regardless of the truth of the charges against the three men, they draw attention to broader concerns about the status of democracy activists who fled to Britain after Hong Kong authorities cracked down on youth-led protests in 2019 and 2020. .
In January 2021, the UK began allowing some Hong Kong residents to settle in the UK under a special visa programme. More than 160,000 people, including prominent activists and other nationals, took part, rebuilding life and the pro-democracy movement on mainland Britain.
But many activists say the crackdown has reached Britain, resulting in a series of clashes with pro-Beijing forces.
In November 2021, Hong Kong democracy activists appeared at an anti-racism event organized by a pro-China group in London’s Chinatown. According to witnesses, they were attacked by thugs belonging to the event organizers.
In October 2022, a rally in front of the Chinese consulate in Manchester turned violent after a group of men dragged protesters to the gates of the consulate and assaulted them.
Alicia Kearns, chair of the British Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said: accused Consul General at the time Zheng Xiyuan denied participating in the scuffle. China expelled Zheng and five other staff members from the country after the British government asked them to waive their diplomatic immunity and allow them to be investigated by criminals.
And in July 2023, Hong Kong announced a $128,000 reward for information leading to the prosecution of eight fugitive dissidents, including several in the UK. Hong Kong’s supreme leader John Lee said they would be “hounded for life.” Five more activists were added to the bounty list in December.
On Tuesday afternoon, one of those activists, Simon Cheng, took part in a protest outside the Board of Trade in central London’s leafy Bedford Square. Mr Cheng, 33, the founder of the British diaspora Hong Kongers, has been regularly stopped by police over safety concerns after the Hong Kong government offered a reward for information leading to his arrest in December. He said he had been in contact with.
“Many British dignitaries still occupy this building,” he said, pointing to the Hong Kong Trade Bureau behind him, looking for business and trade opportunities. “We cannot tolerate this. This is literally a dictatorship oppressing its people.”
The demonstration attracted about 30 pro-democracy demonstrators, many of them young people who fled Hong Kong after the country passed a tough national security law. Fearing they would be targeted by Hong Kong and Chinese authorities, some wore masks to prevent easy identification, while others spoke freely and gave their full names.
Tony Chan, 23, a prominent pro-democracy protester who defected to Britain last year after being imprisoned in Hong Kong under national security laws, said many Hong Kongers living in London are He said he feels he needs to be cautious about his role.
“They have always been concerned about this situation and have therefore reduced their participation in political issues related to democracy, human rights and freedom in Hong Kong and China,” he said. “But my hope is that Hong Kongers living in the UK will understand that their political concerns need to be specifically voiced and the UK government needs to be persuaded to take action.”
Tensions between London and China have escalated in recent months as the British government becomes increasingly vocal over allegations of Chinese spying.
In March, Britain accused China of a cyberattack that compromised the voting records of tens of millions of people, adding that China had unsuccessfully tried to hack into the email accounts of several MPs. In April, two men, one of them a member of Congress, were indicted on charges of spying for China.
And earlier this month, the British government announced that the personal information of members of the British Army, Navy and Air Force had been hacked in a major data breach. Although the source of the attack was not identified, several prominent British MPs blamed China.
Anne Keast-Butler, director general of the UK Government Communications Headquarters, known as GCHQ, said in a speech on Tuesday that China is “building sophisticated cyber capabilities and using a growing commercial ecosystem of hacking organizations and data to “There is,” he said. Intermediaries are free to use. ”
He added in comments at the conference that China “poses a real and growing cyber risk to the UK”.
Tiffany May Contributed to the report.
