Hong Kong summons Australian and British consuls over ‘harbouring criminals’
Chief Secretary Eric Chan condemns countries for granting asylum to activists and vows to bring national security offenders to justice
Hong Kong’s No 2 official has summoned the Australian and British consuls general to express strong opposition to their countries “harbouring criminals” after both granted asylum to two activists wanted for allegedly endangering national security.
The government announced in the early hours of Tuesday that Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki summoned Australian Consul General Gareth Williams and British Consul General Brian Davidson, respectively, on Monday afternoon. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung also attended the meeting.
The meeting took place days after fugitive former lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung, who lives in Adelaide, and activist Tony Chung Hon-lam, based in London, announced separately on their social media accounts last weekend that they had been granted asylum by the governments of Australia and the United Kingdom.
A government spokesman quoted Chan on Tuesday as saying that harbouring the activists effectively allowed certain individuals or organisations to be immune from legal consequences for their illegal acts, which was “no different” from granting a special privilege to break the law.
“What Australia and the UK have done in harbouring these offenders totally runs contrary to the spirit of the rule of law and is absolutely not conducive to the relationship between the [Hong Kong] and the two governments,” Chan said, according to the release.