Photo: AFP

Simon Cheng Man-kit, an employee of the British Consulate General in Hong Kong, went "missing" during a business trip to Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province. He is a Hong Kong resident, but the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been making noise about it. Western media as well as media from Hong Kong and Taiwan even claimed he was sent to the Chinese mainland and linked his "missing" with the current situation in Hong Kong, throwing mud at the judicial system of the mainland.  

The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed Wednesday that Cheng was under administrative detention in Shenzhen. On Thursday, police in Shenzhen's Luohu district told Global Times that he was detained for violating article 66 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Penalties for Administration of Public Security. The article includes solicitation of prostitutes. 

It is disgraceful to be caught for soliciting prostitutes. Those who are arrested usually wish to hide the truth. Shenzhen police also told Global Times that it was at the request of Cheng that they did not inform his family. In other words, if the British foreign ministry and Western media did not hype it, Cheng could have quietly returned to Hong Kong after being detained for 15 days. 

Cheng must pay the price for violating the law. But it is also understandable that he wants to hide the episode from his family. However, thanks to the British foreign ministry and media which have been hyping it, the case is now fully exposed. From the very beginning, they accused the Chinese mainland for the cause of Cheng's "missing" while highlighting the narrative that his girlfriend had received no information at all from the Chinese mainland, portraying how horrific the mainland's law is. They forced Shenzhen police to reveal the truth. 

Those forces are full of prejudice and arrogance against the Chinese mainland. When a person is "missing," they won't even think about whether the man could have violated the law, and immediately pin the blame on the Chinese mainland, without leaving any room for the person concerned to deal with the incident in a low-key manner. 

After realizing they messed up, some Hong Kong media resorted to their old tricks, claiming the Chinese mainland's police fabricated the charge of "soliciting prostitutes" against him. Cheng is neither a celebrity nor an active protester. He often visits Shenzhen. Why would Shenzhen police deliberately frame him? When have police from the Chinese mainland ever framed a Hongkonger like that? 

The case is an alarm bell to those forces, which are biased and even hostile toward the Chinese mainland's judicial system. Our judicial system is not like how they have imagined and propagated. Handling the cases in accordance with the law is a firm principle that police in the Chinese mainland have followed. If Western media cope with every arrest in the Chinese mainland which involves non-mainlanders with their extreme mind-set, the result will only be a big mistake and a big joke.