The Civic Party urged Washington on Saturday to clarify allegations that its intelligence agencies had been conducting electronic surveillance in Hong Kong.
In a letter, addressed to Consul-General Stephen Young of the US consulate in Hong Kong, Civic Party chairwoman Audrey Eu Yuet-mee and party leader Alan Leong Ka-kit expressed concern over reports the US had been collecting the phone and online data of Hong Kong citizens.
Former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, who is believed to be hiding out in the city, told the South China Morning Post earlier this month the US had been hacking China and Hong Kong since 2009.
He said its targets included the Chinese University of Hong Kong, public officials, businesses and students in the city.
The letter read: “The US government’s attempts to justify such indiscriminate surveillance on the grounds of national security only serves to set a dangerous precedent for authoritarian governments which may use the same excuse to justify violations of human rights and suppression of dissidents.”
The party also called on the US consulate to state their intended “purpose and justifications” and questioned whether there were any safeguards, counter-measures or oversight to ensure the actions did not breach human rights and freedoms.