The British government has come under renewed criticism from lawmakers as a government minister is visiting Hong Kong this week for the first time since 2018.
A number of parliamentarians who have been sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) condemned the government for sending the minister for trade talks, with former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith saying the government was set to “prostrate” itself before the Chinese regime.
The visit comes after lawmakers lambasted the government for inviting Chinese deputy leader Han Zheng—who was in charge of Hong Kong affairs during the CCP’s supression of the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong—to the coronation of King Charles III.
Johnson also met with Victor Li and Canning Fok, executive directors of CK Hutchinson, toured the Cyberport in southern Hong Kong, attended an investment talk hosted by Boston Consulting Group, and spoke to other British business leaders in Hong Kong.
“I’m absolutely astonished that a British minister could be sent to Hong Kong,” he said. “Bear in mind that the Chinese government trashed the agreement, the Sino-British agreement, an international treaty, which guaranteed certain rights for the people of Hong Kong.
“Since then it’s imposed the [National] Security Law, it’s arrested peaceful democracy campaigners,” he said.
“They’ve trumped up charges ... [against Apple Daily owner and journalist] Jimmy Lai. He is now languishing in prison. He’s in his 70s, he is a British citizen, a British passport holder. The British government has absolutely failed to publicly state that he is a British citizen with a British passport,” he added.
Lai, the founder of Apple Daily and the Next Media group, was arrested in 2020 and charged under the National Security Law with colluding with foreign powers. The Hong Kong National Security Bureau also shut down all of the operations of Lai’s newsgroup and froze his assets in 2021.
Duncan Smith said Johnson’s trip was “appalling” after Chinese leader Xi Jinping sent “the man that was responsible for the crackdown in Hong Kong” to the coronation on his behalf.
“I think that was spitting in our faces, frankly, and I just don’t understand why we are sending a minister to, particularly, Hong Kong, when we know all that’s going on, with ... slave labour being used in China, when you’ve got genocide taking place in Xinjiang. It’s a shocker really.”
Conservative MP Tim Loughton told the publication that the visit is “not a good look,” noting that it followed “hard on the heels of the architect of suppression of the people of Hong Kong being feted at the coronation.”
“How can you legitimately seek to boost trade with a country that breaks international treaties, imprisons lawmakers & democracy advocates, uses slave labour, and commits genocide?” he asked.
“As a co-signatory to the Joint Declaration, we will continue to stand up for the people of Hong Kong, to call out the violation of their freedoms, and to hold China to their international obligations,” he wrote.
He also referred to the recent update to the UK’s defence and foreign policy strategy, saying the government will “engage robustly and constructively with China and Hong Kong where our interests converge,” and that his visit is “an opportune time” to reinforce the UK’s “willingness to engage.”
In 2021, investments between the two jurisdictions were worth almost £94 billion. British investors invested around £77.6 billion in Hong Kong, while £16.3 billion of foreign investment into the UK came from Hong Kong.
Johnson said he would use the trip to capitalise on Hong Kong’s commercial success and further the UK’s investment relationship with the territory.
But he also acknowledged that the former British colony’s commercial success was rooted in “its ‘high degree of autonomy’, as outlined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration,” and that the rights and freedoms in Hong Kong “have been undermined.”
The UK has also opened a bespoke visa route for holders of British National (Overseas) status in Hong Kong, allowing them to resettle in the UK.
