Australian leader criticizes Hong Kong attempt to arrest two activists now living in Australia | Wagon Radio 720

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday criticized Hong Kong authorities for tracking two Australian pro-democracy activists.

Hong Kong’s leader announced on Tuesday that eight pro-democracy activists now residing in the US, UK, Canada and Australia would be pursued for life for alleged national security violations, critics say the move to arrest them set a dangerous precedent. dismissed.

Mr Albanese said the government was concerned and disappointed that Hong Kong authorities had issued arrest warrants for Australian citizen Kevin Yam and Australian permanent resident Ted Hoi.

“Of course I am disappointed. I have said that we will cooperate with China as much as possible. No,” Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The US and UK governments also viewed the extraterritorial application of the Hong Kong National Security Law as problematic and criticized the move. The US said it set a dangerous precedent for threatening human rights, and the UK said it would not tolerate China’s attempts to intimidate and silence people abroad.

Hong Kong leader John Lee has argued that many countries’ security laws have extraterritorial powers and that the Hong Kong government is not swayed by what foreign officials and politicians say.

Albanese also said he does not agree with China on the detention of Chen Lei, an Australian journalist who was tried last March on national security charges and has not yet been informed of the verdict.

He said Mr. Chen was being held “without due process.”

“We will continue to defend Australia’s interests and will continue to do so. provides an example of how Australia and China have different approaches to these issues, and we intend to stand by our values,” Albanese said.

Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997, has come under increasing government scrutiny following months of mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Hong Kong police have admitted that the eight cannot be arrested if they remain abroad.