The day after UK police charged three men with aiding Hong Kong intelligence, China’s ambassador to Britain was summoned to receive an official reprimand from the British Foreign Office, in the latest sign of growing tension between London and Beijing.
The British government said it had recalled the ambassador, Zheng Zeguang, to its Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office after the three men appeared in court on Monday.
The Foreign Office said in a statement that it had been “unequivocal in setting out that the recent pattern of behavior directed by China against the UK” was not acceptable. It cited cyber attacks, alleged espionage and the issuance of rewards for information leading to the prosecution of dissidents who fled Hong Kong after its crackdown on the pro-democracy movement and resettled in Britain.
The three men who appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday have been charged with gathering intelligence for Hong Kong, a former British colony that is a special administrative region of China, and forcing entry into a residential address. from United Kingdom.
They were identified as Chi Leung (Peter) Wai, 38, of Staines-upon-Thames; Matthew Trickett, 37, from Maidenhead; and Chung Biu Yuen, 63, from Hackney, east London.
Mr. Yuen, a retired Hong Kong police officer, is the manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, one of the Hong Kong government’s 14 outposts outside China.
Mr Wai 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 a London security company, D5. His website describes him as having “over 20 years’ experience in the British military, police and private security sector” and providing “exclusive and discreet services to his clients”.
Mr Trickett, a British immigration officer and former Royal Marine, is the director of a private security company, MTR Consultancy.
Hong Kong authorities confirmed that an employee at the London trading office 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 director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, who was allegedly involved.”
The Chinese Embassy said it “firmly rejects and strongly condemns the United Kingdom’s fabrication of the so-called case and its unjustified accusation” against the Hong Kong government, and that it had “made serious representations to the United Kingdom.”
He added: “For some time now, the UK has organized a series of accusations against China, including those about ‘Chinese spies’ and cyber attacks. “All these accusations are unfounded and slanderous.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Chinese embassy said its ambassador had told Foreign Office officials that Britain “must stop anti-China political maneuvering and not follow the dangerous path of endangering China-China relations.” United Kingdom”.
Whether the charges against the three men are true or false, they have focused attention on broader concerns about the status of pro-democracy activists who sought refuge in Britain after Hong Kong authorities cracked down on youth-led popular protests. in 2019 and 2020.
In January 2021, Britain began allowing some Hong Kong residents to settle in the United Kingdom under a special visa program. More than 160,000 people took part, including high-profile activists and other citizens, rebuilding their lives and the pro-democracy movement on British soil.
But many activists say the crackdown has followed them to the UK, resulting in a series of clashes with pro-Beijing forces.
In November 2021, pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong showed up at an anti-racism event organized by pro-China groups in London’s Chinatown. According to witnesses, they were attacked by thugs aligned with the event organizers.
In October 2022, a demonstration outside the Chinese consulate in Manchester turned violent when a group of men dragged a protester through the consulate doors and beat him.
Alicia Kearns, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament, accused the then consul general, Zheng Xiyuan, to participate in the fray. After the British government requested that consular officials waive their right to diplomatic immunity and allow detectives to question them, China expelled Mr. Zheng and five other officials from the country.
Then, in July 2023, Hong Kong announced rewards of $128,000 for information leading to the prosecution of eight dissidents who had fled, including several living in Britain. Hong Kong’s top leader, John Lee, said they would be “persecuted for life.” Five more activists were added to the reward list in December.
On Tuesday afternoon, one of those activists, Simon Cheng, attended a protest outside the business office in central London’s leafy Bedford Square. Cheng, 33, founder of a Hong Kong diaspora group in Britain, said he had regular contact with police over security fears after Hong Kong issued the reward in December for information leading to his arrest. .
“Many UK dignitaries still go to this building,” he said, pointing to the Hong Kong trade office behind him, looking for business and trade opportunities. “We cannot tolerate this, it is literally an authoritarian regime that represses our people.”
About three dozen pro-democracy protesters, many of them young people who fled Hong Kong after its draconian national security law was passed, had gathered for the rally. Some wore face masks to protect themselves from being easily identified for fear of being attacked by Hong Kong and Chinese authorities, while others spoke freely and shared their full names.
Tony Chung, 23, a prominent pro-democracy protester who fled to Britain last year after being jailed in Hong Kong under the national security law, said many Hong Kongers living in London felt they had to be attentive to their public role.
“They have always been concerned about these situations and therefore have reduced their involvement in political issues related to democracy, human rights and freedom between Hong Kong and China,” he said. “But my hope is that Hongkongers living in the UK understand that political fears especially need to be expressed and they need to persuade the UK government to take action.”
Tensions between London and Beijing have risen in recent months as the British government has become increasingly vocal about accusations of Chinese espionage.
In March, Britain accused China of cyberattacks that compromised the voting records of tens of millions of people, adding that the Chinese had tried unsuccessfully to hack email accounts belonging to several members of Parliament. In April, two men, one of whom worked as a researcher in Parliament, were accused of spying for China.
And earlier this month, the British government said that the personal information of members of the British army, navy and air force had been hacked in a major data breach. While it did not identify any source of the attack, several prominent British lawmakers blamed China.
Anne Keast-Butler, director of Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters, the intelligence agency known as GCHQ, said in a speech on Tuesday that China had built “an advanced set of cyber capabilities and is taking advantage of a growing commercial ecosystem of hacking and data equipment. intermediaries at your disposal.
China, he added in comments at a conference, “represents a genuine and growing cyber risk to the UK.”
tiffany may contributed with reports.