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British MPs call for Wimbledon to drop HSBC as a sponsor over endorsement of Hong Kong’s national security law

  • All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong says HSBC has been complicit in human rights abuses in the city
  • HSBC is one of several big companies operating in the city that publicly supported the law in 2020

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British tennis player Emma Raducanu, who is sponsored by HSBC, plays at last year’s Wimbledon Championships. British lawmakers have called on Wimbledon officials to drop HSBC as a sponsor over its support for the national security law. Photo: AFP
Chad Brayin London
A group of British lawmakers has called on the organisers of the Wimbledon Championships tennis tournament to drop HSBC as a sponsor, saying it has been complicit in human rights abuses in Hong Kong.
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For the second year in a row, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong has written to Sally Bolton, the Wimbledon CEO, asking the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC), the tournament’s organisers, to reconsider HSBC as a sponsor over the bank’s public support for a controversial national security law (NSL) adopted for the city by Beijing two years ago.

“In the years following the 2019 protests, HSBC have made no effort to stand up for the human rights, and principles of freedom and democracy which they benefit from as a UK headquartered bank,” the members of Parliament (MPs) said in their letter.

“Even as daily reports of fresh arrests, intimidation and incarceration demonstrate the NSL’s systematic attack on democracy, HSBC have continued to expand their operations in Hong Kong and China.”

HSBC, which also sponsors British tennis sensation Emma Raducanu, declined to comment on Monday, while Wimbledon officials said they had recently received the letter and “will be responding to them in due course”.

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The letter was reported earlier by The Telegraph, a British newspaper.

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