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https://twitter.com/LuluTsoi/status/1207334662273519617?s=20
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Simon Cheng: Former UK consulate worker says he was tortured in China
A former employee of the UK’s Hong Kong consulate has told the BBC that he was tortured in China and accused of inciting political unrest in the city.
Simon Cheng, a Hong Kong citizen who worked for the UK government for almost two years, was detained for 15 days on a trip to mainland China in August.
“I was shackled, blindfolded and hooded,” the 29-year-old tells me.
UK government sources say they believe his claims – of being beaten and forced to sign confessions – are credible.
Following our interview, the British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab summoned the Chinese ambassador.
“We are outraged by the disgraceful mistreatment that Mr Cheng faced when he was in detention in mainland China… and we’ve made clear that we expect the Chinese authorities to review and hold to account those responsible,” Mr Raab told the BBC.
But on Wednesday a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told the BBC they “absolutely cannot accept the UK government’s interference in this case” – and would in return summon the UK ambassador to “express their opposition and anger”.
“We hope the UK will be prudent and stop interfering in Hong Kong and in China’s domestic affairs because it will, eventually, only harm the UK’s own interests,” the spokesperson added.
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Mr Cheng’s raises questions for both the Chinese and the UK governments.
The claims he makes – including that he saw other Hongkongers in Chinese custody – are likely to fuel protesters’ fears that their city’s freedoms are being eroded under Chinese rule.
“They said they work for the secret service and that there are no human rights,” he tells me. “Then they started the torture.”
Who is Simon Cheng?
As a trade and investment officer at the UK consulate, Simon Cheng’s particular brief was to drum up interest in investing in Scotland among the Chinese business community.
It required him to travel frequently to mainland China.
But in June, with Hong Kong engulfed in mass demonstrations, Mr Cheng volunteered for an additional role.
“The British Consulate instructed staff to collect information about the status of the protests,” he says.
As a supporter of the pro-democracy movement he found it easy to blend in and, with the consent of the consulate, he signed up to some of the social media groups through which the protesters co-ordinated their actions.
Paid overtime for the information he gathered, he began reporting back what he saw to his colleagues.
His task, both Mr Cheng and UK government sources insist, was not to direct events in any way but to purely observe – the kind of civil society monitoring work many embassies do.
But China had already begun to accuse the UK of meddling in Hong Kong, with British politicians becoming increasing vocal in their support for the protesters.
On 8 August, with emails still on his phone linking him to that work observing the protests, he was sent by the consulate to a business conference in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
He didn’t know it, but his life was about to change forever.
How did he disappear?
Although China has ruled Hong Kong for more than 20 years, the border between the city and the mainland still looks and feels like an international boundary.
The “one country two systems” principle – that the protesters say they are fighting to preserve – is meant to ensure that Hong Kong retains control over most of its affairs, including its borders.
But Simon Cheng was about to discover for himself the blurred edges of that legal and political framework.
Since the opening of the Hong Kong-Shenzhen high-speed rail link last year, a new border post has been placed inside West Kowloon station, in the heart of Hong Kong.
For more:
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-asia-china-50457262?__twitter_impression=true
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https://twitter.com/FreedomHk20/status/1207178503969374208?s=20
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The Telegraph
‘I didn’t think I would ever be let out’: How China tortured a UK consulate worker over Britain’s role in Hong Kong
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