China’s foreign affairs ministry in Hong Kong has summoned the representatives of the US and the UK consulates general following “interfering” remarks made on the conviction of pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai.
The Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong SAR. Photo: Peter Lee/HKFP.In a statement published on Monday, the Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong SAR said it had lodged “solemn representations” and summoned representatives of “several” consulate generals, including the US and the UK.
The office also said it summoned the representative of a “relevant organization” in Hong Kong, without naming it.
During the meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, the office expressed “strong concern and firm opposition” towards officials and politicians from those countries and the organisation over comments they made about Lai, who was found guilty in a national security trial earlier that week.
The office “urged those countries, organization and politicians to abide by international law and the basic norms of international relations, respect China’s sovereignty and the rule of law in Hong Kong, and refrain from interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs in any form,” the statement read.
Jimmy Lai in 2020. Photo: HKFP.Lai, founder of the now-defunct pro-democracy media outlet Apple Daily, was convicted of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed national security law and of publishing seditious materials under colonial-era legislation.
The December 15 verdict came after a 156-day trial, in which Lai testified for about a third of it. Six of his former Apple Daily colleagues, who were also charged with and pleaded guilty to conspiring to collude with foreign forces, testified against Lai on behalf of the prosecution.
They have been detained since 2021 and are still awaiting sentencing.
Beijing and Hong Kong authorities hailed the verdict. Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong said the conviction was a “just and righteous move,” while the chief of the Hong Kong Police Force’s National Security Department said the conviction was “justice served.”
Meanwhile, overseas politicians criticised the ruling. Foreign ministers in the G7 group – which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US, as well as the EU – called for Hong Kong to “end such prosecutions” and release Lai “immediately.”
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