Liz Truss attacks China’s ‘attempt to silence’ UK-based Hong Kong human rights group

Liz Truss has denounced the Chinese government after a UK-based group promoting human rights for Hong Kong became one of the first foreign organisations to be targeted under a sweeping national security law.

Hong Kong authorities have formally warned Hong Kong Watch that its website and activities may potentially breach the national security law, punishable with a fine of HK$100,000 (£9,820) or three years in jail for Benedict Rogers, its British founder.

Responding to the threat, Mr Rogers issued a statement in which he said that he refused to be silenced by Beijing “which, through a mixture of senseless brutality and ineptitude, has triggered rapid mass migration out of the city and shut down civil society”.

The Foreign Secretary said that the action against Hong Kong Watch was “unjustifiable” describing it as “an attempt to silence those who stand up for human rights in Hong Kong”.

She also urged Beijing to “respect the universal right to freedom of speech, and uphold that right in Hong Kong in accordance with international commitments, including the Joint Declaration”.

“Attempting to silence voices globally that speak up for freedom and democracy is unacceptable and will never succeed,” Ms Truss said.

Group accused of colluding with foreign forces

Hong Kong Watch was accused of colluding with foreign forces, which was criminalised under the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 in an effort to squash the city’s pro-democracy protests.

A letter from Hong Kong authorities said that the group was “engaging in activities seriously interfering in the affairs of the [Hong Kong special administrative region] and jeopardising national security of the People’s Republic of China”.

Such activities included “lobbying foreign countries to impose sanctions or blockade, and engag[ing] in other hostile activities… and seriously disrupting the formulation and implementation of laws or policies [by the Chinese government]”.

The warning from Hong Kong authorities also confirmed that the organisation’s website, blocked there since at least February, had been censored under the national security law.

The law technically applies globally, although it is unclear whether and how Hong Kong authorities will enforce it in practice.

Activists fear for their lives

Since it came into effect in July 2020, a number of politicians, activists, lawyers, doctors and other professionals have fled Hong Kong out of concern that they would be targeted.

More than 50 civil society organisations have also been forced to close, including Hong Kong Alliance, a prominent group that previously held an annual vigil to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, when the Chinese military fired on peaceful student demonstrators.

That incident is considered one of the most taboo subjects in modern Chinese history and is scrubbed entirely from mention.

Lord Patten of Barnes, the last governor of British Hong Kong, said that going after Hong Kong Watch is “another disgraceful example of Vladimir Putin’s friends in Beijing and their quislings in Hong Kong trying not only to stamp out freedom of expression and information in Hong Kong, but also internationalise their campaign against evidence, freedom and honesty”.

Erwin van der Borght, the Asia-Pacific regional director at Amnesty International, said that the warning “signals a disturbing expansion of this crackdown into attacks on groups operating outside of Hong Kong – highlighting the threat that this law can theoretically be used to prosecute anyone on the planet”.

Blocking the Hong Kong Watch website “inside the city shows how the authorities are increasingly turning to internet censorship to wipe out opposing views – a tactic routinely used by the Chinese central authorities”.

The Hong Kong police, which sent the warning to Hong Kong Watch, said that it “will not comment on specific cases”.