Hong Kong rejects EU freedoms report as biased
SCMP · 1 SOURCESabout 4 hours ago2 MIN
Summary
Hong Kong’s government has pushed back against the European Union’s 2025 annual report on Hong Kong, rejecting its criticism of the city’s freedoms and governance. The administration issued a statement of more than 4,500 words early on Wednesday, hours after the EU report was published on Tuesday by the European Commission and the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas. The EU report pointed to national security cases involving Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and Joshua Wong Chi-fung, and to the Democratic Party’s disbandment before the second “patriot-only” Legislative Council election. In response, the Hong Kong government said the report was “unfounded and biased” and amounted to interference in matters it described as China’s internal affairs
Key Points
- The Hong Kong government issued a more than 4,500-word statement early on Wednesday rejecting the EU’s 2025 annual report on Hong Kong
- The EU report was published on Tuesday by the European Commission together with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas
- It cited national security trials involving pro-democracy figures Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and Joshua Wong Chi-fung as key concerns
- The report also mentioned the Democratic Party’s disbandment before the second “patriot-only” Legislative Council election in Hong Kong
- A government spokesman said the EU should respect facts and international law, and stop “long-arm jurisdiction” and interference in Hong Kong matters
Why It Matters
The exchange underscores continuing friction between Hong Kong authorities and European institutions over how the city’s political and legal changes are assessed. For Hong Kong readers, the dispute matters because the government is defending national security laws as essential to stability, while overseas critics are using the same developments to question the city’s freedoms and autonomy