Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee is criticizing the arrest of a key trade official in Britain on allegations of spying for the city’s foreign intelligence service.
Bill Yuen, who manages Hong Kong’s Economic and Trade Office in London, and two other men, Peter Wei and Matthew Trickett, were granted bail when they appeared in a London courtroom Monday. They are accused of “agreeing to undertake information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception” between December 2023 and May 2024. The charges were brought under Britain’s new national security act.
Chief Executive Lee has denied the allegations. During a press briefing Tuesday, he warned that any attempt “to interfere with the work of ETO offices in different places will be against free trade and free economy,” and would harm the economies of countries that “try and do bad things” to ETO offices.
China’s foreign ministry issued a statement warning the case could erode relations between Beijing and London. Tensions between the sides have risen over China’s crackdown on pro-democracy and dissenting voices in Hong Kong in recent months.
Britain’s foreign ministry summoned China’s envoy Tuesday to lodge a formal protest over the allegations.
Hong Kong is a former British colony that was returned to Chinese control in 1997. The handover included an agreement for China to allow Hong Kong to enjoy freedoms and a degree of autonomy not enjoyed on mainland China.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse.
