LettersHong Kong national security law: wider network would offer foreign diplomats a more balanced picture

The Canadian consulate can easily get around its reported problem of local politicians shying away from engagement by broadening its contact network

This will help it more accurately understand why the national security law was introduced

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Jeff Nankivell, consul general of Canada in Hong Kong and Macau, attends an annual ceremony at the Sai Wan War Cemetery on December 6 last year, to remember Canadian soldiers who died in Hong Kong during World War II. Nankivell said his consulate’s work has been affected by the national security law enacted last June. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Published: 6:55am, 14 May 2021Updated: 6:55am, 14 May 2021

In your report “Canada ‘not planning new pathways to asylum’” (May 10), Canada’s outgoing consul general to Hong Kong, Jeff Nankivell, is reported to have said that the consulate’s work has been affected by the national security law enacted by Beijing last June. Some Hong Kong politicians have been reluctant to engage with his office since the law was introduced.

Maybe the consul general could broaden his contacts by engaging with politicians like myself. In keeping with Hong Kong’s open and internationally oriented culture, I am perfectly happy to engage with foreign diplomats based in Hong Kong.

Diplomats from other Five Eyes nations have definitely been in touch. However, in the past three years, I have not received a single meeting request on any subject from the Canadian consulate here.

I consulted my colleagues in the Legislative Council. None of the leaders of the pro-establishment parties – the Liberal Party, the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong – have received any meeting requests from the Canadian consulate, nor has our “class captain”, the Honourable Martin Liao Cheung-kong, convenor of the pro-establishment caucus.

Perhaps the Canadians’ definition of “politicians” is so narrow that it only includes those fearful of the national security law. But that would not allow Canadians to have a more balanced picture of what has actually happened in Hong Kong, necessitating the enactment of the national security law.