January 7, 2025 – Today, the British parliament held an urgent debate in response to the Hong Kong police placing bounties on the heads of UK-based Hong Kongers over Christmas.
Former Home Secretary Dame Priti Patel asked the government to respond to the offer of rewards for information relating to the work of four UK-based pro-democracy campaigners, including Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) Foundation staffer Chloe Cheung.
Indo-Pacific Minister Catherine West reiterated the UK government’s call for the repeal of Hong Kong’s National Security Law. (UK Parliament TV)
Minister for the Indo-Pacific, Catherine West MP, responded on behalf of Foreign Secretary David Lammy by saying that the UK will not tolerate any attempts by foreign governments to coerce, intimidate, harass, or harm their critics overseas, especially those in the UK.
“We call on Beijing to repeal the National Security Law, including its extraterritorial reach, and we call on the Hong Kong authorities to end their targeting of individuals in the UK and elsewhere for seeking to exercise their basic rights,” West said.
Members of parliament from all parties spoke in defence of Hong Kongers living in the UK and urged the government to take a tougher position in dealing with China and Hong Kong in response to the bounties and arrest warrants.
Mark Sewards MP asked for reassurances that Chloe Cheung, a 19-year-old Leeds resident, and other UK-based Hong Kongers will be protected from transnational repression.
The latest round of bounties, announced on Christmas Eve last year, were issued for six Hong Kong activists accused of committing national security offences, such as inciting secession and colluding with foreign forces. Other ‘crimes’ of which they are accused include pushing for the imposition of sanctions on Hong Kong officials and other activities “hostile” to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the People’s Republic of China.
The latest round of bounties takes the total number of overseas Hong Kongers tagged for rewards relating to their arrests to 19, following two previous rounds of bounties in July 2023 and December 2023.
Chloe Cheung is the second CFHK Foundation staffer to have a bounty placed on them for their work fighting for Hong Kong's Freedom. Frances Hui, who works in the CFHK Foundation’s U.S. office, was bountied in December 2023 for her work on developing sanctions against the Hong Kong authorities responsible for arresting pro-democracy campaigners.
Mark Sabah, UK and EU Director at the CFHK Foundation, said:
“It is absolutely right that this issue was debated in the first week that parliament returns from Christmas break. It is the third time that the British government has faced questions after the Hong Kong authorities placed bounties on the heads of UK residents and the responses appear to have been exactly the same: weak-willed and lacking teeth. It is high time that the British government mounted a serious response to these threats, such as shuttering the London Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, rather than rewarding China and Hong Kong authorities with a ministerial visit.”
Chloe Cheung, CFHK Foundation Junior Manager, Communications and Media, said:
“I’d like to thank Mark Sewards MP for standing up for me and my fellow Hong Kongers. If the government really wants to show solidarity with us, Catherine West or another Foreign Office minister should immediately invite me and other UK-based bountied individuals for a meeting so they can better understand and respond to the transnational repression and threats we face.”
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