On Wednesday, 12 February, China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, will meet British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London when the two co-chair the China-UK Strategic Dialogue, the first such strategy dialogue between the two countries since 2018. The London meeting follows British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves’ January mission to China to resume the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue, stalled since 2019. The concluding policy paper made only two weak references to human rights. The resumption of such strategic dialogues between the UK and China sends a concerning message, in particular at a time of deteriorating human rights in China and mounting transnational repression in the UK. ARTICLE 19 reiterates calls for the UK to prioritise human rights in its engagement with China.
[...]
Demand an immediate end to the arbitrary detention of British citizens
First detained under Hong Kong’s draconian National Security Law in August 2020, media magnate and pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai, 77, who is a British citizen, has remained in solitary confinement for over 1,400 days. He faces trial for serious charges under the NSL, which carry a potential maximum life sentence, yet Hong Kong has denied him consular support.
In 2015 British citizen Lee Bo vanished along with several Hong Kong bookseller colleagues in a coordinated attack for selling titles critical of Chinese Communist Party elites. He was ‘involuntarily removed to the mainland without any due process’ in December of that year in a ‘serious breach’ of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, as stated by the UK government at the time. In late February 2016, he on Chinese state-owned Phoenix Television claiming to have returned to China of his own accord and renouncing his British citizenship. It has all the hallmarks of a forced confession. Throughout the ordeal, Lee Bo was also denied consular access. reappeared on Chinese state-owned Phoenix Television claiming to have returned to China of his own accord and renouncing his British citizenship. The appearance had all the hallmarks of a forced confession. Throughout the ordeal, Lee Bo was also denied consular access.
In meeting with Wang Yi, the UK should call for the immediate and unconditional release of Jimmy Lai and other British citizens and dual nationals arbitrarily detained in China and Hong Kong. Recognising the right under international law, David Lammy should furthermore demand full consular access for Jimmy Lai and other detained British citizens.
Transnational repression in the UK must end
David Lammy has an obligation to speak for the estimated 150,000 Hong Kongers and other minority and Chinese groups living in the UK, many of whom increasingly live in fear of transnational repression.
For example, on 16 October 2022 when a group of Hong Kongers gathered in front of the Chinese Consulate in Manchester to protest China’s human rights abuses, the demonstration quickly turned violent as consulate officials attacked the protesters. Bob Chan, one of the protesters and a British National Overseas (BNO) passport holder, was violently dragged by masked men into the consulate grounds and beaten up. He was pulled out to safety by British police. Chan was later treated at a hospital for his injuries.
China’s Consul General in Manchester, Zheng Xiyuan, the second highest diplomat in the UK, later admitted to participating in the attack, telling Sky News that Chan ‘was abusing my country, my leader, I think it’s my duty’. There is no record of Wang Yi having expressed disapproval of these actions.
Bob Chan is one of several hundred thousand British National Overseas passport holders. The BNO was created as part of the 1997 British handover of Hong Kong, but applications surged following the imposition of the National Security Law in 2020. In January 2021 China and Hong Kong announced they were refusing to recognise BNO passports, which prevents BNO passport holders residing in the UK from accessing their retirement savings in Hong Kong.
Perhaps starkest of China’s transnational repression against Hong Kongers residing in the UK has been the Hong Kong National Security Police issuing international arrest warrants and $1 million HKD ($128,361 USD) bounties on nine Hong Kongers in the UK in July and December 2023 and December 2024.
This transnational repression of dissidents abroad has been compounded by the harassment and targeting of their family members still in China, such as London-based member of Hong Kong Democracy Council Carmen Lau.
[...]
