SAR hits back at London over 'groundless smears'

The SAR has expressed strong disapproval over and firmly rejected "groundless attacks, slanders and smears" in a British report on Hong Kong.

The statement came after Britain published a biannual report that said Hong Kong has extended the application of the Beijing-imposed national security law "beyond genuine national security concerns."

Examples include its use of legal means to suppress the protest song Glory to Hong Kong, arrests under the national security and sedition laws and the conviction of everyone tried so far under the law, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly wrote.

China, he said, has chosen to "curtail and control many of the rights and freedoms" enshrined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law under the guise of national security.

Tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's national security prosecution is also "highly politicized," and the "targeted persecution" of people with dissenting views persists, with the police issuing arrest warrants and bounties against eight Hongkongers who fled overseas, he said.

Furthermore, the SAR's legal and judicial systems are at a critical juncture as judges have to "adjudicate on an opaque national security law that places the authority of the chief executive on security matters above that of their own," according to Cleverly.

"Changes to electoral legislation announced on May 2 became law on July 10. The reduction of directly elected district council seats from 452 to 88 is a further step away from universal suffrage," he added.

A SAR spokesman said Britain was trying "to make misleading and irresponsible remarks about Hong Kong matters" and called on it to stop interfering in China's internal affairs.

"The UK's maneuver with politics prevailing over law-based administration is glaringly obvious," he said, adding that the SAR also "strongly refutes fallacious remarks" about district reforms, calling them urgently needed to put an end to chaos and put councils back on the right track.

The office of China's foreign ministry commissioner here said London was trying to support anti-China troublemakers due to "jealousy of Hong Kong's prosperity."

"Regardless of how many false accusation reports the UK publishes, it will not swerve China's resolute determination to safeguard the one country, two systems principle and national security," the office said.

China's embassy in London said the report ignores facts, confuses right and wrong and is a blatant interference in SAR matters and China's internal affairs.

"China urges the UK to respect the fact that Hong Kong has already been handed over to China and give up its colonial mentality and stop publishing relevant reports," he said.