China has prosecuted an overseas national for interfering in Hong Kong affairs and activities that endanger China’s national security, according to mainland media. The Belize citizen, Lee Henley Hu Xiang, is the first overseas national to be charged with working with foreign groups to intervene in Hong Kong. Lee was arrested in the southern mainland city of Guangzhou on November 26. At that time, Southern Daily said he was a Belizean businessman living in China, and had funded key members of hostile forces in the US to undermine China’s national security. He was also accused of supporting activities that led to chaos in Hong Kong. Guangzhou Daily reported that the city’s national security bureau had wrapped up its investigation on Thursday and transferred Lee’s case to the Guangzhou People’s Procuratorate for prosecution. The report said Lee had long been providing capital to anti-China groups based in the US, colluding with foreign forces to interfere in Hong Kong affairs, and had supported activities that endangered China’s national security. Hong Kong has been embroiled in prolonged social unrest, including violent protests , since June last year in opposition to a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed the extradition of Hong Kong people to places with no jurisdiction treaty with the city, including mainland China. Beijing officials and Hong Kong police said the protests had shown signs of terrorism . Hong Kong police staged anti-terrorism drills last month. A Taiwanese man, Lee Meng-chu , was arrested by police in Shenzhen in October, for allegedly stealing state secrets for foreign forces after he visited Hong Kong in August to support “anti-China” activities. Tian Feilong, an associate professor at Beihang University’s Law School in Beijing, said digging deeper into the “organisation network and capital chain behind the violent protests had always been the focus of national security investigations”. “The protesters on Hong Kong’s streets are not the main goal of the national security organs, that’s the job for Hong Kong police,” Tian said, adding that the case of the Belize citizen would be used to reinforce the assertion that there were foreign forces interfering in Hong Kong. In a key party meeting in October, Chinese Communist Party leaders called on Hong Kong to enact its national security law, and introduce a law enforcement institution for national security. There had been signs of increasing involvement in Hong Kong affairs by China’s security and law enforcement system, with its security chief Guo Shengkun among the top officials attending Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Yuet-ngor’s annual briefing with President Xi Jinping on December 16. The South China Morning Post has reported that Guo led an inter-agency rapid response team in Shenzhen to monitor Hong Kong’s anti-government protests. Three months earlier, Guo’s subordinate, Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi, made a similarly unexpected appearance at a meeting between Xi and Macau’s new leader, Ho Iat-seng, underscoring Beijing’s growing unease about national security in the city. Several pan-democratic lawmakers in Hong Kong said they did not know Lee, including Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai. Wu said Lee’s alleged offence was unclear, and he believed the case was being used to intimidate those doing business in the mainland. “The prosecution could intimidate businessmen who support the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong – this could serve as a warning to them,” he said. “Anyone who challenges Beijing’s authority is a threat to its rule, even if the act is done in Hong Kong. That’s the scary part – that’s extending the legal jurisdiction to Hong Kong.” Veteran Democratic Party members Albert Ho Chun-yan and Cheung Man-kwong also said they had not heard of Lee. Additional reporting by Alvin Lum
