UK pushing for release of Hong Kong campaigner Jimmy Lai on humanitarian grounds

The UK is pushing for the release of jailed Hong Kong democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai on humanitarian grounds as Downing Street defended Sir Keir Starmer’s talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

British national Mr Lai, 78, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Monday under a security law imposed by China.

Mr Lai, who founded the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper which criticised the governments in Hong Kong and Beijing, was arrested in August 2020.

Sir Keir raised his case with the Chinese president during his visit earlier last month.

Downing Street rejected suggestions that the sentence showed engagement with China had failed to work, arguing it meant there was a “stronger chance of securing a positive outcome” for him as opposed to “just talking into a void”.

Asked whether Sir Keir had been misled by the Chinese president during their talks, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the UK “condemn(s) this politically motivated prosecution” and “we’ll continue to raise this case at the highest levels of the Chinese government, as indeed the Prime Minister minister did directly”.

Asked whether Mr Lai’s case was a clear example of how Britain’s engagement with China had not worked, the spokesman said: “I don’t accept that.”

He added that “having a policy of not engaging at all with China is not a policy that benefits Britain or British citizens”, and argued it was “much better to have a relationship that allows us to make our case directly to the Chinese president rather than just talking into a void”.

Asked whether the UK was going to take any action or just keep asking China to release Mr Lai, the official said: “I don’t accept your characterisation.”

Downing Street said its engagement meant there was “a stronger chance of securing a positive outcome for Jimmy Lai as opposed to an approach of non-engagement, which results in us just talking into a void as has happened many years prior to the reset the Prime Minister has delivered over the last couple of weeks”.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called on Hong Kong’s authorities to end Mr Lai’s “appalling ordeal”.

She said Mr Lai had been “exercising his right to freedom of expression”.

“Beijing’s National Security Law was imposed on Hong Kong to silence China’s critics,” she said.

“For the 78-year-old, this is tantamount to a life sentence.

“I remain deeply concerned for Mr Lai’s health, and I again call on the Hong Kong authorities to end his appalling ordeal and release him on humanitarian grounds, so that he may be reunited with his family.”

The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China said the sentence “serves as irrefutable proof that Hong Kong’s legal system answers to Beijing”.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan-Smith said: “Jimmy Lai has been handed yet another sham sentence under Hong Kong’s National Security Law: a political punishment for the simple act of standing up for freedom of the press and the rule of law.

“This is not justice. It is repression, directed by Beijing, designed to silence dissent and intimidate all who value liberty.”

Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said: “The Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the Labour Government should be ashamed of themselves for not securing the release of Jimmy.

“Spineless Starmer gave the Chinese Communist Party their super embassy spy hub and then went to Beijing to kowtow to President Xi begging for Chinese investment.”

Meanwhile, thousands more HongKongers will be granted visas to enter the UK.

Adult children of British national (overseas) status holders who were under 18 at the time of Hong Kong’s 1997 handover to China will be eligible to apply for the route independently of their parents, the Home Office said.

Their partners and children will also be able to move to the UK under the expanded route.

Ministers estimate 26,000 people will arrive in the UK because of the change over the next five years.