Chinese authorities arrested relatives of a former Hong Kong politician who protested against the Communist regime’s new “mega-embassy” in London.
Carmen Lau, 30, fled her native Hong Kong five years ago and joined 3,000 others at a rally in February against plans to build the 5.5-acre complex near Tower Bridge.
In a speech at the event, the activist said allowing China to build the large diplomatic mission sends the “wrong message” that Britain welcomes authoritarian regimes.
However, within 48 hours of her remarks, Chinese national security police arrested her elderly aunt and uncle in Hong Kong. They were detained in morning raids on their homes and questioned for six hours before being released.
Ms Lau said her relatives were questioned about the links she still has to the former British colony. “They wanted to know about financial relationships I had with others in Hong Kong and were interested in my family tree – the other relatives I have in Hong Kong,” she told The Mail on Sunday.
Harassment
Ms Lau then believes police used the information they got to arrest another aunt a week later and questioned her for several hours as well. The activist claims the harassment is the Chinese regime’s method of getting her to stop her “anti-Chinese” activities in the UK.
Ms Lau was Deputy Secretary-General of the Civic Party, Hong Kong’s second-largest pro-democracy party, which was forcibly dissolved. She was also a district councillor.
She resigned her councillor role in 2021, fled the former British colony and sought refuge in the UK after the Chinese authorities put her under surveillance. She claimed she had undercover police officers parked outside her apartment and was being followed. She said she was also being harassed by security personnel and the state media.
Hong Kong authorities placed her and five overseas activists on a wanted list in December.
In February, the campaigner’s neighbours in Berkshire received a bounty note offering more than £100,000 for information about Ms Lau or anyone who could lure her to the current Chinese embassy in Marylebone in central London. The note also accused her of inciting protests and colluding with a foreign power against Beijing.
Police hold back demonstrators during a protest outside the proposed site of the new Chinese embassy redevelopment in Royal Mint Court, east London – Jordan Pettitt/PA
If approved, the new mega-embassy would be 10 times bigger than the current Chinese embassy and the country’s largest diplomatic mission in Europe.
The site at the former Royal Mint Court in east London would include offices, 225 homes and a “cultural exchange” building.
China bought the site for more than £255 million in 2018, but Tower Hamlets Borough Council rejected plans for the embassy in 2022.
They did not appeal against the decision amid speculation that the Conservative government at the time would have backed the council’s decision. However, they resubmitted mostly unchanged plans just weeks after Labour won last year’s general election.
Underground rooms
However, Ms Lau raised concerns about underground rooms which the new embassy will contain. Their exact purpose was redacted on the plans for “security reasons”.
Ms Lau added: “These rooms could be used for interrogations and locking up people like us. They could be used to torture us.”
During the February protests, chants of “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong” and “Mega embassy, mega no” reverberated through the crowds. Protesters came from as far as Scotland, Liverpool, Reading, and Manchester.
Ms Lau said she believes the mega-embassy would become a hub for “transnational repression” by China in central London.
She also said the Metropolitan Police had advised her not to attend public gatherings as she could be attacked and her relatives back home could be put in danger.