November 11, 2024 – Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, the Hong Kong Executive Council Member instrumental in the conception of Hong Kong’s draconian Article 23 national security legislation, has just concluded an extended visit to London.
Ip said on her X account: “At the invitation of the Government of the UK and the British business sector, New People’s Party (NPP) Chairperson Mrs. Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee led a delegation consisting of members of the New People’s Party’s ‘External Liaison Group’ to London.”
In 2003, as Hong Kong’s Security Bureau chief, Regina Ip was instrumental in proposing Article 23 national security legislation that threatened to bring a vaguely defined crime of subversion into law. Over 500,000 people took to the streets to protest the legislation in landmark pro-democracy protests that underscored Hong Kongers’ willingness to fight for their freedoms.
Ip’s London delegation included Adrian Ho, NPP Central Committee Member and Member of the Legislative Council; Stephen Law, NPP Executive Committee Member and Hong Kong Member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC); and Jen Lau, NPP Policy Director.
The trip took place even as UK Parliamentarians remain sanctioned by the PRC government, and ahead of the November 20 recommencement of the trial of British citizen, Jimmy Lai on politically motivated national security charges.
Moreover, Ip and her delegation visited the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in London, despite the arrest earlier this year of a London HKETO office manager, Bill Yuen, on charges of assisting a foreign intelligence service and engaging in foreign interference on behalf of Hong Kong.
The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) Foundation condemns Ip’s visit and calls on the government to follow the lead of the United States and revoke all diplomatic privileges and immunities extended to the London HKETO now that Hong Kong’s special autonomous status has been decertified.
Ip’s delegation also met with Catherine West, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, representatives of the City of London and The China-Britain Business Council (CBBC), other business leaders, as well as with think tanks and British media.
CFHK Foundation UK & EU Director Mark Sabah said:
“It is outrageous for London to be rolling out the red carpet to the likes of Regina Ip as Hong Kong’s government continues to persecute thousands of political prisoners, including British citizen Jimmy Lai and the Hong Kong 47.
“How can we welcome Regina Ip, when her government continues to orchestrate the transnational repression of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists living in exile in the UK, some of whom still have HK$1 million bounties on their heads?”
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