Hong Kong summons Australian and British consuls over ‘harbouring criminals’

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 allegedly endangering national security who have absconded overseas.

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 UK.

A government spokesman quoted Chan on Tuesday as saying that such harbouring effectively allowed certain individuals or organisations to be immune from legal consequences for their illegal acts, which is “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.

Chan was quoted as saying that the government would not condone criminal acts endangering national security and would not give up pursuing those responsible, including adopting all practical measures to bring fugitives who have absconded from Hong Kong to justice.