Yui Mok/AP
Chung Biu Yuen leaves Westminster Magistrates’ Court in central London on May 13, 2024.
Hong Kong
CNN
—
Hong Kong’s leader responded on Tuesday after three individuals had been charged by British police for allegedly spying on behalf of the city’s intelligence companies.
On Monday, three males appeared in Westminster Magistrates’ court docket in London charged with nationwide safety offenses, together with aiding the Hong Kong intelligence service, in response to a statement from the city’s Metropolitan Police.
Chi Leung (Peter) Wai, 38, Matthew Trickett, 37, and Chung Biu Yuen, 63, are additionally accused of overseas interference, the assertion mentioned, with out specifying who the boys had been allegedly spying on.
Relations between Hong Kong and its former colonial ruler Britain have soured lately following mass pro-democracy protests within the Chinese city in 2019 and 2020.
The British authorities has criticized Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed crackdown on virtually all opposition within the years following the protests, whereas Hong Kong authorities have bristled at Britain offering a protected haven for pro-democracy leaders sought by the Hong Kong police.
On Tuesday, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee claimed the British charges in opposition to thre three males had been a “fabrication.”
“The Chinese side firmly rejects and strongly condemns the UK’s fabrication in the so-called case and its unwarranted accusation against the Hong Kong government,” Lee mentioned, referring on to an announcement from the Chinese Embassy in London that was additionally issued in response to the charges.
Yui Mok/AP
Chi Leung Wai leaves Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London, on May 13, 2024.
Jonathan Brady/AP
Matthew Trickett leaving Westminster Magistrates’ Court, central London, on May 13, 2024.
On Monday, the Chinese Embassy statement, strongly condemned what it referred to as the United Kingdom’s “unwarranted accusation against the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government.”
The charges in opposition to the three males allege that between December 20, 2023 and May 2, 2024, Yuen, Wai and Trickett agreed to undertake info gathering, surveillance and acts of deception that had been prone to materially help a overseas intelligence service, in response to PA media.
Police additionally alleged that on May 1, the three pressured entry right into a UK residential deal with, in response to PA.
All three had been granted bail however are barred from touring internationally, with District Judge Louisa Cieciora saying they need to abide by a nighttime curfew and report weekly to their native police station.
Hong Kong leader Lee famous in his Tuesday information convention that one of many males charged was the workplace supervisor of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London however didn’t immediately deal with a query over whether or not it was concerned in surveillance of Hong Kong dissidents within the UK.
Vernon Yuen/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee is talking at a press convention on April 30, 2024.
Lee, the city’s former safety chief, mentioned Hong Kong’s Economic and Trade Office exists to facilitate cultural and financial interactions with individuals and companies within the UK and that “Any attempt to make unwarranted accusations against the Hong Kong government is unacceptable.”
The Metropolitan Police mentioned they’d charged the boys with aiding the overseas intelligence service underneath the UK National Security Act.
“A number of arrests were made and searches carried out across England as part of this investigation. While led from London, the Counter Terrorism Policing network has been crucial to disrupting this activity and we have worked closely with the Crown Prosecution Service since the start of the investigation,” Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command mentioned within the launch.
Met Police mentioned the investigation is ongoing however added there isn’t any menace to the broader group.
