British Foreign Secretary David Cameron met with Sebastien Lai, the son of Hong Kong media mogul and British citizen Jimmy Lai.
Tuesday’s meeting came ahead of Jimmy’s Lai’s trial on Dec. 18 under Hong Kong’s National Security Law. The 76-year-old founder of Apple Daily and Next Digital has already spent three years behind bars.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said Lord Cameron listened to Mr. Sebastien Lai’s concern for his father, adding, “the UK opposes the National Security Law and will continue to stand by Jimmy Lai and the people of HK,” in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
While FCDO minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan has previously met Mr. Sebastien Lai, Lord Cameron is the first British foreign secretary to meet him during his campaign to free Mr. Jimmy Lai.
In a statement released via Mr. Jimmy Lai’s lawyers at Doughty Street Chambers, Mr. Sebastien Lai said he’s “grateful” that Lord Cameron met him at the “crucial time” ahead of his father’s trial.
“I feel reassured to have heard directly from the foreign secretary that my dad’s case is a priority for the UK government,” he said.
“I understand why Lord Cameron was unable to make any immediate commitments, but I left the meeting feeling hopeful that the UK will shortly add its voice to calls for my dad’s immediate and unconditional release. It really gave me hope that I will see my dad again soon.”
Caoilfhionn Gallagher, KC, Mr. Jimmy Lai’s international lawyer, called on the UK government to secure his release.
“Jimmy Lai has already spent three years in prison for his journalism and his peaceful pro-democracy activities. He is now being prosecuted for illegitimate reasons, under an unfair law, and in a broken legal system,” she said.
“He needs the UK government to do all they can to secure his freedom. This meeting with Lord Cameron is a welcome development. Now we wait to see how Lord Cameron and the UK government will respond to our requests.”
Doughty Street Chambers said Mr. Jimmy Lai has “faced a barrage of criminal prosecutions as a result of his work as a peaceful pro-democracy campaigner, writer, and publisher,” and that he’s facing life in prison if he’s convicted under the National Security Law.
The UK has previously said Beijing’s imposition of the National Security Law on Hong Kong was a breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
Campaigners and some parliamentarians have long lobbied the British government to intervene in Mr. Jimmy Lai’s detention. Former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith previously warned ministers not to play “into the hands of the Chinese authorities” by calling Mr. Jimmy Lai a dual national.
Written in May before a government report on Hong Kong, former Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the Hong Kong authorities “deliberately target prominent pro-democracy figures, journalists, and politicians in an effort to silence and discredit them,” adding, “Detained British dual national Jimmy Lai is one such figure.”
He said Mr. Jimmy Lai “languishes as a result” of the claims that he’s a dual national because the Chinese regime doesn’t recognise dual nationalities and doesn’t allow consular rights of access.
Following Mr. Sebastien Lai’s meeting with Lord Cameron, security minister Tom Tugendhat shared the FCDO’s post on X, adding, “I guess the golden era is over.”
Lord Cameron ushered in a so-called golden era of Sino-British relations when he was prime minister, and it was one of the reasons that many were shocked by his recent surprise return to government.
The foreign secretary last week defended his previous close engagement with Beijing but said China has “changed” since.
Mark Sabah, director of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation said it’s “fantastic” that Mr. Sebastien Lai has “finally met a British foreign secretary after three years of trying.”
“Our hope is that this is the first step on the way to a public declaration by the British government, demanding the immediate and unconditional release of British citizen Jimmy Lai, who has already been in prison for nearly 1,100 days,” he told The Epoch Times on Wednesday.
Mr. Sabah criticised the British government for failing to act to secure Mr. Jimmy Lai’s release, saying he suspects Prime Minister Rishi Sunak didn’t want to “risk those trade deals” with the communist-ruled country.
Asked whether Lord Cameron may be more keen to help to change his record on China, Mr. Sabah said the foreign secretary does have the choice to “be a foreign secretary who stands up to threats towards the United Kingdom,” but he’s “concerned” that Lord Cameron would “use this opportunity to have met Sebastian Lai to wash his hands of responsibility by saying, ‘I met Sebastian, that’s all I can do.’”
In an email to The Epoch Times, Benedict Rogers, CEO and co-founder of Hong Kong Watch, called on the UK government to “take a lead” on highlighting the situation in the former British colony.
“Warmly” welcoming Lord Cameron’s meeting with Mr. Sebastien Lai, Mr. Rogers said it was a “significant step forward” but there’s more for the British government to do.
“Most importantly, I hope the UK will publicly call for the immediate and unconditional release of Jimmy Lai, which it has not yet done, even though the U.S. government, the European Parliament, and the U.N. special rapporteur for freedom of assembly and association have already done so,” he said.
“The UK should also take a lead in highlighting the human rights situation in Hong Kong, specifically calling for the repeal of the National Security Law and in particular calling for the release of Jimmy Lai in China’s Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations next month.”
Reacting to the meeting, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy called Mr. Jimmy Lai “a major plotter and instigator of the anti-China riots in Hong Kong,” and claimed that the UK’s supporting of him “further exposed Jimmy Lai’s long-term collusion with the UK side and the latter’s connivance and support for anti-China activities aimed at disrupting Hong Kong.”
