Hong Kong residents arrested at sea 'will have to be dealt with' by mainland China: Carrie Lam
09 September, 2020
Twelve persons from Hong Kong arrested as they reportedly sailed to Taiwan for political asylum will "have to be dealt with" by mainland China, but metropolis government would make an effort to provide assistance, leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday (Sep 8).
Chinese authorities arrested the 12 persons on Aug 23 after intercepting a boat off the coast of the southern mainland province of Guangdong. Local media have reported these were headed to Taiwan to apply for political asylum.
"The question isn't a question of simply getting (them) back," Lam told a normal weekly press conference.
"If these Hong Kong residents were arrested for breaching mainland offences they have to be handled in line with the mainland laws and in accordance to the jurisdiction before any other things could happen."
Lam added that her government had "a duty to render assistance" to Hong Kong residents "caught in every types of situations" abroad and the government's representative office in Guangzhou, Guangdong's capital, can look into methods to provide that assistance and liaise with mainland authorities.
News agency AFP reported on Monday that legal representatives representing some of those captured have been denied access to their clients. Lam didn't address that one aspect when asked.
Neither mainland nor Hong Kong authorities have publicly confirmed who has been arrested, but local media have identified a number of them as facing prosecution for involvement in protests this past year.
One man, Andy Li, was recently arrested under a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing on the Asian financial hub on Jun 30. Another is a dual national with Hong Kong and Portuguese citizenship.
The Guangdong Coast Guard, which announced the arrests on its social media platform late on Aug 26, said two of the detained were surnamed Li and Tang, without providing further details.
It isn't clear what charges they face, beyond potentially unlawful border crossing.
Lam also reiterated a remark made last week which stoked further worries that Hong Kong had taken a more authoritarian turn, saying the location had no separation of powers, and that its executive, legislative and judicial powers were produced from Beijing.
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