Hong Kong Watch urges UK Government to sanction Hong Kong Chief Executive in wake of Chinese cyberattacks on UK

Today, the UK Government announced sanctions on two Chinese officials and one company, in a coordinated effort with the United States Government to impose reprisals on China for a cyberattack against the UK Electoral Commission between August 2021 and October 2022. 

The UK Government said that the officials and company in question work for the China state-affiliated cyber espionage group Advanced Persistent Threat Group 31 (APT31), which is alleged to be the main actor behind the major cyberattack on the UK government. The Electoral Commission said “hostile actors” had gained access to copies of the electoral registers and broken into its emails and “control systems”, but added that it neither had impact on any elections nor anyone’s registration status.

In last week’s Urgent Question debate in the UK House of Commons, on the subject of the new Article 23 security law and the threat to human rights in Hong Kong, Parliamentarians raised the question of a ‘pause’ in targeted sanctions, referencing an internal document from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) stating that the department “has paused consideration of this work indefinitely”. In response, and in announcing the new sanctions, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden MP today stated that there was no such pause on targeted sanctions in effect. 

Hong Kong Watch welcomes this assurance by the Deputy Prime Minister, as well as the introduction of new sanctions in response to acts of blatant aggression against the UK by the People’s Republic of China.  

However, Hong Kong Watch notes that the new sanctions are very limited in scope, targeting only relatively minor officials, and that the UK government has still yet to introduce any sanctions against Hong Kong officials for their ongoing human rights violations. The United States has sanctioned over 40 Hong Kong officials despite having no formal obligation to the territory, as the UK has under the Sino-British Joint Declaration. 

On 30 May 2023, Hong Kong Watch made a formal sanctions submission to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), outlining the case for Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Autonomous Region (HKSAR) John Lee to be sanctioned under the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime. On 4 January 2024, six Hong Kong Watch Patrons again wrote to the Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron, urging him again to consider sanctioning John Lee following the targeting human rights activists and British citizens Benedict Rogers, Luke de Pulford and Bill Browder by listing them as collaborators or co-conspirators in the trial of British citizen Jimmy Lai.

Benedict Rogers, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Watch, said: 

“It is welcome news that the UK government is still willing to consider targeted sanctions against Chinese individuals, following concerns that such measures had been indefinitely paused by the FCDO. However, one must really question whether these new sanctions are commensurate with the scale and severity of the offence committed, and whether the UK Government should be committed to introducing a broader range of sanctions, including against Hong Kong officials, starting with Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee. 

It has taken nearly three years since the original cyberattack on the Electoral Commission for the UK government to name perpetrators and to introduce measures against some of the individuals involved. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, we have seen how failure to act decisively to punish human rights abuses and flagrant breaches of promises made in an international treaty, the Sino-British Joint Declaration, has only emboldened lawmakers to dismantle Hong Kong’s fundamental freedoms and violate Hong Kong’s international obligations. 

The UK government has still yet to sanction a single Hong Kong official, while the United States government has sanctioned over 40. We need to do more to ensure that such blatant violations of international law, both at home and overseas, do not continue with impunity. I hope that the Foreign Secretary will respond positively to the calls for further action, and further sanctions, made by Members of Parliament today.”

英國制裁涉發動網攻中國公民及公司 香港監察再次促請制裁李家超

今天，英國政府宣布制裁兩名中國公民及一間公司，與美國政府聯手對付中國在2021年8月至2022年10月期間對英國選舉委員會發動的網絡攻擊。

英國下議院上週就香港23條及對人權的威脅展開緊急質詢辯論，期間有國會議員提出政府「暫停」點名制裁的問題，並引用一份英國外交、聯邦及發展事務部內部文件，指外交部「已無限期暫停考慮這項工作」。英國副首相杜永敦（Oliver Dowden）今天宣布新制裁行動時，表示並無暫停點名制裁，以作回應。

香港監察歡迎副首相作此保證，同時歡迎政府因應中國公然攻擊英國的行為施行制裁。

然而，香港監察認為新制裁僅針對影響力相對較小的人士，範圍非常有限，而且英國政府尚未對持續侵犯人權的香港官員施行任何制裁。美國雖然不如英國般對香港有《中英聯合聲明》下的正式義務，但已制裁40多名香港官員。

2023年5月30日，香港監察透露年初向英國外交部提交正式制裁建議書，概述根據全球人權制裁制度（Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime）制裁香港行政長官李家超的理據。2024年1月4日，因應香港政府針對人權倡議人士、英國公民羅傑斯（Benedict Rogers）、裴倫德（Luke de Pulford）和Bill Browder，將他們列為英國公民黎智英案件的合作者或共謀者，六名香港監察贊助人聯署致函英國外相甘民樂勳爵（Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton），再次促請考慮制裁李家超。