Hong Kong denies link to UK national security case after trade officer convicted of spying on activists

The Hong Kong government has denied any link to the high-profile UK court case after its trade officer was convicted of spying on overseas activists.

The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

“From the outset, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has been clearly stating that the allegations in this case are absolutely not related to the HKSAR Government and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London (London ETO), nor are we party to the case,” a government statement sent to the media on Friday morning read.

“We firmly oppose any unfounded allegations against the HKSAR Government and the London ETO.”

The statement was issued shortly after Bill Yuen, an office manager at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, and former UK Border Force official Peter Wai were found guilty under Britain’s national security laws of assisting a foreign intelligence service.

Yuena and Wai – both British-Chinese dual nationals – were accused of spying on Hong Kong pro-democracy activists living in Britain.

From left: Hong Kong Economic Trade Office (HKETO) official Bill Yuen and former UK Border Force officer Peter Wai. Photos: Metropolitan Police.

Among those the pair were said to have surveilled was Nathan Law, who is wanted by national security police in Hong Kong with a bounty of HK$1,000,000.

Yuen and Wai were charged in May 2024 alongside a third person, UK immigration officer Matthew Trickett. A week after Trickett was charged, he was found dead in a suspected suicide.

In full: Explainer: Why UK authorities arrested 3 men linked to Hong Kong’s trade office

According to a statement by UK counter-terrorism police, published after the guilty verdict on Thursday, Yuen had been receiving tasks from Hong Kong authorities and delegating them to Wai and Trickett.

Up to 14 years jail

Yuen and Wai were found guilty by a 10-2 jury verdict on Thursday. Wai was also found guilty of misconduct in public office in relation to abusing Home Office systems while working as a border control officer.

Yuen and Wai will be sentenced on a date yet to be determined. They face up to 14 years in jail.

A Chinese national flag and a Hong Kong SAR flag in Hong Kong. Photo: GovHK.

According to the Friday statement, Hong Kong has 15 overseas ETOs in different cities, including the UK capital.

The London office maintains “close liaison with interlocutors in government, business, think tanks and various sectors to enhance the bilateral ties between Hong Kong and the UK in areas including trade, investment, and arts and culture,” it said.

After the guilty verdict, the UK said that it would summon the Chinese ambassador.

“We will continue to hold China to ​account and challenge them directly for actions which put the safety of people ​in our country at risk,” UK Security Minister Dan Jarvis said on Thursday. “That is why the Foreign Office will ⁠summon the Chinese Ambassador to make it clear activity like this was, and will ​always be, unacceptable on UK soil.”

In a statement issued the same day, the Chinese embassy in London condemned the verdict, saying that the UK had manipulated the judicial process as part of its “political move.”

“Its sole purpose is to embolden those anti-China elements who are hiding in the UK and bent on destabilising Hong Kong, and to smear the Chinese government and the Hong Kong SAR government,” it said.