China’s foreign affairs office in Hong Kong has warned Western politicians to cease using the financial hub for “publicity stunts” in the name of human rights to “clamour” for sanctions against the city’s leader.

Local authorities on Friday joined state officials in the “severe condemnations” hours after the European Parliament in a landslide vote adopted a resolution on the city’s “alarmingly deteriorating” situation since the Beijing-imposed national security law came into force.

During the debate, which was also centred on jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and national security charges faced, EU lawmakers called for the European Council to introduce sanctions against Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu and other officials over the “deterioration of fundamental freedoms” in the city.

In a strongly worded statement late on Thursday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong said such efforts were “doomed to fail”, accusing European politicians of neglecting responsibility for their own economies and people’s livelihoods.

“They, instead, use the Hong Kong issue as a publicity stunt under the guise of ‘human rights’, ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’ to maliciously slander Hong Kong’s national security law and the rule of law, and clamour for sanctions against Chinese officials,” the office said.

It called for European politicians to immediately stop “the futile act of covering up and beautifying criminals”, “the bullying behaviour of threatening sanctions”, and to abandon the use of Hong Kong to contain China.

On Friday, a spokesman for the Chief Executive’s Office also weighed in, expressing strong dissatisfaction and severe condemnation, saying: “Lee has done no wrong leading Hong Kong in fulfilling its responsibility to safeguard national security openly and righteously.

“It was the European politicians who disregarded the facts, smeared Hong Kong’s national security law, and distorted the actual situation in Hong Kong for their political purposes and interests.”

The parliament’s resolution, titled “The deterioration of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong, notably the case of Jimmy Lai”, urged Hong Kong’s government to release and drop charges against the tycoon and other opposition activists.

The resolution stated that Lai was among the “political prisoners” in Hong Kong who remained behind bars during lengthy pre-trial detention, with some suffering serious health conditions.

Lai faces four charges under the security legislation and a colonial era sedition law. He has said he would plead not guilty at his trial, set for September.

The European Union vote was 483 in favour and nine against, while 42 lawmakers abstained. The lawmakers voted on a cross-party urgency resolution, a non-binding tool designed to express the European Parliament’s views on the human rights situation.

The debate saw members of parliament lining up in Strasbourg in France to criticise the governments in Hong Kong and Beijing over a crackdown they said had wiped out the city’s political opposition, purged critical local media and led to the jailing of hundreds.

On Friday, Hong Kong Watch, an advocacy group based in Britain, urged EU members to take concrete action to support Hongkongers by suspending extradition treaties and limiting the extraterritorial application of the security law to protect those in Europe.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3224290/hong-kong-national-security-law-beijing-city-authorities-warn-eu-politicians-cease-publicity-stunts

Category: Hong Kong