Hong Kong offered a bounty for the capture of a former UK consulate worker who fled after being tortured.
Authorities offered to pay HK$1,000,000 (£100,400) for tip-offs to arrest Simon Cheng, who was granted asylum in the UK following a high-profile case in 2019.
The move was seen as a threat to British sovereignty and jurisdiction, triggering angry exchanges between London and Beijing on Friday.
Britain called Hong Kong’s action a “threat to our democracy and fundamental human rights”, and Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, said he had instructed British officials in Hong Kong, Beijing and London to “raise this issue as a matter of urgency”.
China hit back, saying the bounty was “necessary and legitimate”.
“By cheering on these anti-China individuals that are bringing havoc to Hong Kong, the United States and Britain are exposing their malicious intentions in messing up Hong Kong,” said Mao Ning, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman.
Mr Cheng was one of five overseas activists for which Hong Kong has issued a bounty, with authorities pledging they would be pursued “till the end”.
He and Francis Hui, Joey Siu, Johnny Fok and Tony Choi all fled Hong Kong after Beijing imposed a draconian national security law that introduced tough penalties for vaguely-defined offences, in an effort to crush the city’s pro-democracy movement.
Police Chief Superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah on Thursday said the five activists were suspected of incitement to secession, incitement to subversion, and foreign collusion – crimes that can carry sentences of up to life in prison.
“All of them, who have already fled overseas, have continued to commit offences under the national security law that seriously endanger national security,” Mr Li said.
Mr Cheng responded to the accusations on social media. He said: “Being hunted by China’s secret police, under a one-million-[HK] dollar bounty, is a lifelong honour. If the government deems the quest for democracy and freedom a crime, we embrace the charges to reveal the genuine face of social justice, unyielding to authority.”
Ms Siu, a US citizen, pointed out that she was being pursued for exercising freedoms in her own country. “I will never be silenced, I will never back down,” she said.
Washington echoed Britain’s complaints. It said it deplored any attempt to apply the national security law extraterritorially and that “advocates for democracy and freedom will continue to enjoy their constitutionally guaranteed freedoms” in the United States.
China is known to pursue dissidents using a network of overseas police stations, quasi-legal extensions of the Communist Party state that have been accused of meddling in British politics.
Amnesty International said the decision was further confirmation that the Hong Kong authorities’ systematic dismantling of human rights has officially gone global.
“The brazen tactic of placing Wild West-style bounties on activists’ heads seems to be emerging as a method of choice to silence dissent,” said Sarah Brooks, the deputy regional director for China.
Amnesty and other rights groups have also condemned the national security trial of Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and founder of the now defunct Apple Daily newspaper, which starts on Monday.
“This case has been an attack on press freedom, and freedom of expression from the very start,” said Ms Brooks. “The Hong Kong authorities must release Jimmy Lai immediately and unconditionally and expunge his criminal convictions.”
Hong Kong’s controversial national security law has reshaped society in the former British colony and broken down the legal firewall that once existed between the city and mainland China.
It claims the power to hold accused people accountable across the world, although Hong Kong authorities have not specified how enforcement abroad is possible.
The bounties are the second batch of hefty rewards offered by Hong Kong police pursuing fugitives accused of national security crimes.
Eight prominent activists also overseas – including pro-democracy lawmakers Nathan Law and Ted Hui – were identified in July as targets for the police, which offered bounties of one million Hong Kong dollars each for information leading to their capture.
Mr Lai’s son said on Friday he thought the outcome of his father’s trial had already been decided, but he was proud of him for standing up for his beliefs.
Life imprisonment
Mr Lai faces possible life imprisonment on charges that he colluded with foreign forces, including the United States. He is one of the most prominent Hong Kong critics of China’s Communist Party leadership and has faced a salvo of litigation since a wave of pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019.
He is already serving a five-year and nine-month jail term for a fraud conviction over a lease dispute for his newspaper. Mr Lai has pleaded not guilty to all charges he faces in his new trial.
Sebastien Lai, one of his sons, said that the trial, with three government-appointed judges and no jury, was a sham.
“There’s actually no anxiety involved once you think about it because it’s a complete show trial. The result is already predetermined,” said Sebastien, who lives in Taiwan.
Hong Kong’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hong Kong and Chinese authorities say the city’s rule of law is robust and all are treated equally before it. Both Hong Kong and Chinese officials say the security legislation was needed to restore stability to the former British colony.
Sebastien Lai said it was his understanding his father was “doing OK”.
“He’s 76-years-old and has been in solitary confinement for the last three years, so I can’t imagine what that does to a person physically and mentally,” he added.
Sebastien, who has not seen his father in three years, said he missed simple things like family dinners.
“I always go back and forth – would I rather my father was with me instead of standing up for the freedom of others? And my conclusion is I’m tremendously inspired by him and I’m very proud he’s my dad.”