The Chinese embassy in the UK has condemned the sentencing of two men linked to the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office for spying on activists.
Bill Yuen Chung-biu, a manager at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, received an eight-year sentence on Thursday for assisting a foreign intelligence service. Peter Wai Chi-leung, a security firm operator and former part-time UK Border Force officer, was sentenced to 10 years for the same charge plus misconduct in a public office.
The embassy stated that the sentencing resulted from the British side’s abuse of the law and manipulation of judicial proceedings. An embassy spokesman said the British government should stop its acts of slander and suppression against Chinese citizens and strongly condemned the actions.
Yuen was accused of passing surveillance requests from Hong Kong authorities to Wai. Wai was said to have used his official position to obtain personal information on Hong Kong activists from computer systems.