Media tycoon Jimmy Lai (R) is escorted into a Hong Kong Correctional Services van outside the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong on February 1, 2021, after being ordered to remain in jail while judges consider his fresh bail application. Photo: VCG

China expressed strong opposition on Wednesday to the latest meeting between UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron and the son of notorious media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who is also considered as "modern-day traitor" for his acts and deeds in instigating violent riots in Hong Kong back in 2019. The latest remarks and deeds of the UK expose its blatant double standards and malicious intentions, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. 

It is well known that Jimmy Lai is a notorious anti-China and chaos-inciting figure in Hong Kong. He was the mastermind behind the turmoil in Hong Kong, and has blatantly colluded with external forces to endanger national security through numerous misdeeds. It is beyond reproach for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to seek to hold him accountable, Mao Ning, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a press conference on Wednesday. 

Sebastien Lai, the son of this anti-China figure and who has been lobbying on the international stage for his father's case, met Cameron in London, according to media reports. The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in a public post on X, formally known as Twitter, that "the UK opposes the National Security Law [for Hong Kong] and will continue to stand by Jimmy Lai and the people of HK." 

The national security case involving Jimmy Lai is set to begin on December 18 and is expected to last for around 80 days, according to local media reports in Hong Kong. 

The UK, priding itself as a country based on the rule of law, is openly intervening in a case that has entered judicial proceedings. The UK has just introduced its own national security law (NSL), yet audaciously opposes the NSL for Hong Kong. This double standard and hypocritical stance are blatantly exposed, revealing their malicious intentions, Mao said. 

In the three years since the implementation of the NSL for Hong Kong, over 80 percent of Hong Kong residents say that the law has made Hong Kong safer. In the face of the facts and trend of Hong Kong moving from chaos to governance and then to prosperity, the UK's actions only add to their own ridicule, Mao said, noting that China urges the UK to genuinely respect the facts and rule of law and stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China's internal affairs.

On Tuesday, the Chinese Embassy in the UK also expressed  firm opposition to UK politicians' emboldening of Jimmy Lai and strongly condemned the UK's egregious interference in the rule of law in Hong Kong.

The UK's backing of an anti-China, Hong Kong destabilizer who broke the law constitutes a flagrant interference in a case that has already entered judicial proceedings. This further exposes Lai's long-term collusion with the UK and the latter's connivance and support for anti-China activities aimed at disrupting Hong Kong, the embassy said. This further proves that the HKSAR government's prosecution of Jimmy Lai is entirely lawful, legitimate and justified, it added. 

The Commissioner's Office of China's Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong also issued a statement on Wednesday, urging relevant countries to stop geopolitical manipulation and promptly put to rest their obsession with interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China's internal affairs. 

Those Western countries have their own human rights issues and developmental challenges, such as immigration, refugees, racial discrimination, and wealth disparity. Instead of focusing on the welfare of their own nations and people, they exploit the Hong Kong question for political posturing, selling the false narrative of "standing with Hong Kong people," the commissioner's office said, noting that those countries desperately try to portray Hong Kong's lawbreakers as "human rights fighters" and "democratic heroes," seeking popularity and misleading the public. 

This further exposes their complicity with anti-China and Hong Kong disruptors and their malicious intentions to undermine Hong Kong's prosperity and stability, which is utterly ridiculous.