A Scottish Labour MP has warned the Chinese Communist Party to keep its “hands off Hong Kong Scots”.
Blair McDougall said many of his constituents “live in fear of repression” from China. The East Renfrewshire MP said this was partly because of a ‘secret police station’ run by the Chinese state in a Glasgow restaurant.
It was revealed in 2022 that the Scottish Government and Police Scotland were aware of a secret Chinese outpost operating out of the Loon Fung restaurant on Sauchiehall Street.
A report from the time claimed the station was part of an attempt to force Chinese dissidents to return to the country. It shut last year.
McDougall said in the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon: “My constituency is home to a new and growing population of Hong Kongers, who, although they live in a free country, live in fear of the repression.
“Not least because of the reported presence of, until recently, a secret police station in Glasgow run by the Chinese Communist Party. Will [the minister] join with me in sending a really clear signal to the Chinese state: ‘Hands of Hong Kong Scots’.”
Labour foreign office minister Stephen Doughty replied: “I’ve made clear our support to the Hong Kong community in the UK and made absolutely clear to Chinese authorities that the existence of undeclared sites in the UK were unacceptable and their operation must cease.
“We have been told that they have now closed. The Foreign Secretary has been in China on October 18 and 19 where he met his counterpart foreign minister Wang Yi, and other senior Chinese figures. He raised human rights, including issues relating to Hong Kong.”
China introduced its national security law in Hong Kong in 2020. The law has made breaking away from China and undermining the power or authority of the central government illegal. This has resulted in a big crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.
The number of Hong Kongers in the UK has increased since the British National (Overseas) visa scheme was introduced in January 2021. Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997.
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