Lord Alton at Hong Kong Summit
I would like to congratulate the organisers of this Hong Kong Summit for organising such an important gathering of Hong Kongers from around the UK over these past three days. Bringing Hong Kongers together in this way, along with Parliamentarians from both Houses and all parties and with friends of Hong Kong, is a profoundly valuable step and I applaud everyone involved.
I am privileged to serve as Vice-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group, and as a Patron of Hong Kong Watch. But my love of, admiration for and commitment to Hong Kong goes back much longer, to when I was a young Member of Parliament in Liverpool and I came to know a Hong Kong Chinese family and was invited by them to Hong Kong where I learnt the story of their escape from famine and Mao’s Cultural Revolution.
Since then I have followed the developments in Hong Kong actively, initially with some cautious hope and then with profound concern. When Hong Kong was handed over to China in 1997, I hoped that Beijing would abide by its promises under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, an international treaty registered at the UN and valid for 50 years.
In the early years after the handover, there were some reasons to be hopeful, as “one country, two systems” appeared to be working.
But in more recent years I became increasingly aware of how Beijing was eroding that principle and undermining Hong Kong’s freedoms, and then of course over the past four years – with the appalling police brutality of 2019, the imposition of the draconian National Security Law in 2020, and the dismantling of basic freedoms including freedom of assembly, freedom of association, press freedom, academic freedom and threats to religious freedom – we have seen the dramatic, rapid and shocking destruction of Hong Kong’s liberties and the transformation of what was once one of Asia’s most open cities into one of its most repressive police states.
Not long after chairing a meeting at Westminster for Joshua Wong and for Nathan Law, not long after he had been elected to the Legislative Council in 2016, as the youngest member of the legislature. Having once been the youngest Member of Parliament in the House of Commons – a position known as “the Baby of the House” – I told Nathan that “us babies of the House must stick together”.
So when I saw Nathan disqualified from the legislature simply for quoting Mahatma Gandhi after taking his oath, I was appalled. And when I heard that Nathan, Joshua Wong and their colleague Alex Chow were jailed, I knew something had gone badly wrong with Hong Kong, and that we in Britain had a responsibility to act.
Soon after that I became a founding Patron of Hong Kong Watch, and then in 2019 I was part of an international election observation mission to monitor what were, we know now, the last genuine elections to take place in Hong Kong, the district council elections. Witnessing the enthusiastic participation of so many Hong Kongers, the extraordinarily high turnout, and the remarkable victory for the pro-democracy camp in those district council elections was inspiring. And yet that moment of hope was all too brief, and today so many of those who won election at the ballot box in Hong Kong are in jail, in exile or have been forced into silence.
That is why it is so vital that Hong Kongers in exile like you, and friends of Hong Kong in Parliament and in civil society around the world, use our voices to speak up for Hong Kong when those in Hong Kong are no longer able to do so. And that is why conferences like this one which you have been participating in are so important – both to keep the flame alive, to keep a spotlight on Hong Kong and to empower and equip you to use the freedoms you now have in this country on behalf of your fellow Hong Kongers who need our voices.
I want to say to all of you who have moved to this country, either under the BNO scheme or seeking asylum, that you are extremely welcome here. It is a tragedy that the circumstances are such that you have had to flee Hong Kong, but I am very glad that in those circumstances you have found a new home here in the United Kingdom. And I pay tribute to the British government for the BNO scheme, something I advocated for, together with colleagues in the House of Lords and those in the House of Commons. I also commend the government for then extending the BNO scheme to apply to some of the most vulnerable young people who previously did not qualify for it, providing a lifeline to young people who otherwise would have been in real danger. I was glad to work closely with the last Governor of Hong Kong Lord Patten, Lord Falconer and the Bishop of St Albans in proposing the amendment for an extension of the BNO scheme, just over a year ago, and I was delighted that the government then took the decision to act accordingly.
And I also pay tribute to the government, and to many civil society groups in this country, for providing both the funding and the services to assist with welcome and integration.
But while I commend the government on these counts, I believe there is much more it should be doing and I will not cease to say so.
It should be much more robust in speaking out for political prisoners in Hong Kong – particularly those who, like Jimmy Lai, are British citizens. Last week the APPG held an inquiry on media freedom in Hong Kong and the case of Jimmy Lai and Apple Daily, and we heard evidence from a panel of experts. The government has started, belatedly, to speak out for Jimmy Lai, and I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s reference to his case in his recent remarks at the UN, but it is, as one of the witnesses at last week’s hearing put it, too little, too late. The government should be doing everything possible to demand Jimmy Lai’s release, and to seek consular access to him in the meantime. As the German Protestant theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, executed by the Nazis famously said, “not to speak is to speak, not to act is to act”. Albert Einstein was right that “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”
It is shocking to me that despite China’s blatant and comprehensive violations of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the UK has not taken any action to hold Beijing to account or to insist on punitive consequences for such disregard for an international treaty.
There should be targeted sanctions against officials and entities in the governments in Beijing and Hong Kong responsible for dismantling Hong Kong’s freedoms.
As someone who has been sanctioned by the PRC and now Iran for speaking out against their violations of human rights I find it passing strange that the FCDO has failed to sanction Carrie Lam or John Mak let alone Chen Quanguo or Wang Junzheng for their misdemeanours in Tibet and Xinjiang.
Last year I was one of 110 Parliamentarians in both Houses to sign a letter to the Foreign Secretary at the time calling for the UK Government to undertake an audit of the UK assets of Hong Kong and Chinese officials linked to human rights violations. The letter cited recent research by Hong Kong Watch, which has found that at least five Hong Kong officials and six legislators that are complicit in the ongoing human rights crackdown currently own property in the UK. And I suspect that is just the tip of the iceberg. A year on, not only has no action been taken, but no response from the government has been received.
I will continue to press the government on the case for sanctions.
On Thursday last I tabled an amendment to the Economic Crime Bill which introduces a new duty on designated persons to disclose all assets they own or control in the UK. Failure to disclose such assets is defined as a form of sanctions evasion, which is already criminalized under UK law, and which could result in asset recovery under the Proceeds of Crime Act. It also targets the assets of those against whom arrest warrants have been issued by the International criminal Court.
Over the course of this year the United Nations will prepare for its Universal Periodic Review of China, to take place at the start of next year, and I hope the British government will play a leading role in ensuring that Hong Kong is raised prominently and actively in that UPR process – and I would encourage as many Hong Kong groups as possible to make submissions to the UPR process as well. And we should not allow the recommendation made last summer by the UN Human Rights Committee – the body that reviews states’ obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – to go forgotten: that China should repeal the National Security Law in Hong Kong and refrain from applying it.
And speaking of the United Nations, and the subversion of its institutions by the CCP, we must lose no opportunity to expose the hypocrisy of the PRC’s membership of the UN Human Rights Council while it stands accused of a range of gross human rights violations including the ultimate crime above all crimes, the crime of genocide in Xinjiang.
In this 75th anniversary year of both the Convention on the Crime of Genocide and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights we must recognise the fault line between nations that respect democracy, diversity, sovereignty, human rights, and the rule of law and nations that stand for authoritarianism and dictatorship. The city that stands on that fault line and that has warned the world about the dangerous tectonic plates that threaten our way of life is of course Hong Kong. For too long too many people and too many countries chose to look away while the enemy was gathering around the citadel – but as Ukraine has demonstrated – and as Taiwan fears – if you simply feed the hungry crocodile don’t be surprised when he comes to eat you too.
Just as Germany became ludicrously dependent on Putin’s oil and gas – the UK needs to rebalance its economy and security priorities and make itself more resilient and less dependent on the PRC.
During the Covid Pandemic I exposed the dependency of the UK on CCP merchandise – including the purchase of one billion lateral flow tests – which could easily have been made in the UK. In Parliament last week I asked why the UK still has 118 million items of PPE stored in the People’s Republic of China at a cost of £260,000 every single day. That is a massive cost to the NHS, both in opportunity cost and the cost to British taxpayers. It’s one of the reasons we currently have a £40 billion trade deficit with the PRC.
That is as foolish as the story this weekend that Graduates from Chinese ‘defence universities’ are working in British arms firms and it is reported that may be spies for Beijing. You couldn’t make this up. It’s unbelievable but given the many lapses in our security structures – from Hikvision surveillance cameras and facial recognition to Tik Tok and data gathering – to spies operating in the Palace of Westminster – it’s patently clear that, as the House of Lords Select Committee on International Relations and Defence, on which I served, concluded, China is a threat to the United Kingdom’s way of life.
So in the face of this what can individuals do?
I want to see Hong Kongers in this country – people like you – engaging with our political system: understanding your rights, getting involved in your local communities here in the UK, contacting your Member of Parliament as a constituent and, if they’re not already involved with Hong Kong, to inform them and convert them to the cause. And perhaps in due course becoming a Member of Parliament, a County, City or District Councillor, an elected Mayor, or at least a member of a campaign group, charity or voluntary organisation.
As Aristotle, the father of democracy, once said – “shame” – aidos – would attach to the person who refuses to play their part
That is why this Summit is so valuable.
You are now not only our friends and neighbours, but also our fellow citizens – or you will become so legally in due course – and as citizens of this country, I would encourage you to exercise your democratic rights here, to use the opportunities you have and the freedoms we all enjoy here, to make your voices heard for Hong Kong and also to contribute to our wider society here in Britain, as I know you are already doing.
Of course at the same time I know many Hong Kongers have understandable concerns about your security – here in the UK and for your families and loved ones still in Hong Kong – and our government should be doing everything possible to ensure that you are safe here and that, should you wish to, you are free to protest, to speak, to campaign in this country without fear.
The appalling incident last October at the Chinese consulate in Manchester was absolutely shocking – I had the opportunity to meet Bob Chan a few days after he suffered a violent attack at the hands of the Consul-General and some of his colleagues, and like all of us, I was outraged that such behaviour could happen on the streets of this country.
The British government’s response to the incident was not what it should have been – but I hope that it will learn lessons from that, and be much more proactive in ensuring that Hong Kongers receive the protection and support to which you are entitled.
As I end I would urge you again to use your voices and the freedom which you enjoy on behalf of those in Hong Kong who need you to be the advance party in the struggle for democracy throughout China. Those who are daily denied freedom of speech need those who have this gift to use it plenteously.
Liu Xiaobo was right when he said “ Freedom of expression is the foundation of human rights, the source of humanity, and the mother of truth. To strangle freedom of speech is to trample on human rights, stifle humanity, and suppress truth.”
And he was also right when he said that “There is no force that can put an end to the human quest for freedom, and China will, in the end, become a nation ruled by law, where human rights reign supreme.”
Liu Xiaobo, like Tank Man in Tiananmen Square or Bridge Man during the Covid Protests may seem like solitary individuals. Jimmy Lai, Martin Lee, Cardinal Joseph Zen, Margaret Ng, Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow – or the 47 most prominent pro-democracy activists facing up to life imprisonment – and many many others – can seem like solitary individuals. But they are not. By standing together and not flinching we can bend history. To do so we must each contribute small deeds.
As CS Lewis once said “ you can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can begin where you are and change the ending’.
Let me conclude by again congratulating you all on these past three days, and by emphasising that as residents – and in due course citizens – of this country, you are warmly welcome here, you have much to contribute, and I hope that you will receive all the support you need to build a new life in freedom here. At the same time, you can be assured that your friends in Parliament and beyond will not be silent, but will continue to do all we can for Hong Kong and for Hong Kongers. And that we will work with you to change the ending.
