Question: According to media reports, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Catherine West met with four anti-China individuals seeking to destabilise Hong Kong who are wanted by the Hong Kong police, including Carmen Lau. What is your comment?

Embassy Spokesperson: Such a move by UK officials constitutes blatant interference in the rule of law in Hong Kong and in China's internal affairs. We firmly oppose and strongly condemn this.

Carmen Lau and the other three individuals have long engaged in anti-China activities seeking to destabilise Hong Kong. Their egregious actions seriously endanger national security, severely undermine the fundamental interests of Hong Kong, and have a serious impact on the One Country, Two Systems which is a bottom line that must not be crossed. The law enforcement actions taken by the Hong Kong police are necessary to uphold the rule of law in Hong Kong and defend national security. The UK harbouring those individuals is despicable.

Hong Kong-related affairs are purely China's internal affairs, in which the UK has no right to interfere. We urge the UK to respect China's sovereignty and Hong Kong's rule of law, stop emboldening those anti-China individuals seeking to destabilise Hong Kong and stop harbouring criminals.