Human rights groups urge UK Home Secretary to strengthen Foreign Influence Registration Scheme

Today, Hong Kong Watch joined the Hong Kong Democracy Council and 39 other Hong Kong civil society and human rights organisations in publishing a joint statement, urging the UK Home Secretary to implement the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) as scheduled without further delay and to include entities associated with the Chinese and Hong Kong governments in the enhanced tier of the FIRS to counter covert political influence.

These policy asks are particularly important in light of the proposed Chinese super embassy in London, which must be stopped by the UK government to ensure that the hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers in Britain and other diaspora groups are protected against transnational repression.

You can read the full statement here and below.

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Joint Letter to UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper MP: Add PRC and Hong Kong Entities to FIRS’s Enhanced Tier

Dear Home Secretary:

We, the undersigned, are writing to you regarding the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS). This follows the Minister of State Lord Hanson of Flint’s answer on 7 January 2025 to written question UIN HL3634 that FIRS will commence this summer and that the proposed foreign entities to be included on the enhanced tier will be subject to formal debate and agreement by both Houses of Parliament.¹

We call on you to 1) implement FIRS as scheduled without further delay and 2) to include entities associated with the People’s Republic of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) governments on the enhanced tier of FIRS in the list of proposed foreign entities.

The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) of Parliament noted in 2023 China’s attempt to gain political influence and economic advantage over the UK, to “mute criticism and build support for China as a partner” and to “gain economically”.² These efforts were described by MI5 as “political interference activities” on at least one recent occasion: The lawyer Christine Lee was declared in 2022 as an “agent of influence” who carried out “political interference activities on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party”. Having met successive prime ministers and donated half a million pounds to MPs, Ms Lee had contacts and access across the political spectrum at the highest levels.³

The ISC further observed the monitoring and controlling of Chinese students’ behaviour in the UK through a national network of Chinese Students and Scholars Associations (CSSAs), coordinated and partially funded by the Chinese embassy in London.⁴ While CSSAs ostensibly exist to organise cultural activities and provide academic support, an Amnesty International report published last year found that they instead contribute to the surveillance, intimidation and harassment of overseas Chinese students.⁵

Two months ago, Security Minister Dan Jarvis MP named China as one of the three leading states — along with Russia and Iran — that pose an ongoing threat to British security.⁶ The National Security Act 2023 was enacted to strengthen the UK’s power to protect itself from adversaries that seek to conduct hostile activities, while FIRS was introduced specifically to tackle covert influence in the UK. According to Mr Jarvis’s answer on 14 January to written question 23031, the political-influence tier is “limited in scope” while the enhanced tier covers more serious activities such as lobbying.⁷ We believe Chinese and SAR government entities belong to the latter.

Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers have sought refuge in the UK since 2021 in the hope that they can exercise their freedoms here without fear, which they no longer can back home. To that end, we urge you to take crucial steps in ensuring transparency of Chinese and SAR activities and, more importantly, protecting British democracy.

We look forward to hearing from you.