‘False notices’ in UK court case found by Hong Kong trade officer guilty of spying on overseas activists it will not affect the government’s plans to expand trade offices in other countries, the city’s trade chief has said.
Secretary for Trade and Economic Development Algernon Yau said in an interview on Tuesday with the Now news channel that the Hong Kong government had just opened a Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Kuala Lumpur last year and plans to open another in Saudi Arabia.
“Overseas trade offices are meant to promote economic, cultural and educational ties between the two regions. I don’t think these baseless slanders will influence us to set up economic and trade offices in other countries,” he said.
in may a UK court found guilty Bill Yuen, an office manager at the Hong Kong trade office in London, and former UK Border Force officer Peter Wai. under UK national security laws.
Yuen and Wai, both dual British-Chinese citizens, were accused of spying on Hong Kong pro-democracy activists living in Britain.
Shortly after the verdict, the Hong Kong government issued a statement denying any connection to the high-profile espionage case, saying the allegations were “absolutely not related to the HKSAR Government and the Hong Kong Economic and Commercial Office in London”.
“We strongly oppose any baseless accusations against the HKSAR government and the London ETO,” the statement said.
Last month, Wai and Yuen were sentenced to 10 and eight years in prison, respectively.
Asked about suggestions that Hong Kong companies had taken off from Singapore in recent years, Yau said on Tuesday that the number of foreign enterprises in Hong Kong had reached over 11,070.
Moves to criminalize bid rigging
Yau also said the government was working with the Competition Commission to make bid-rigging a criminal offense following an investigation into the deadly fire at Wang Fuk Court last year. brought to light the widespread issue of bid rigging and corruption in maintenance work in residential buildings.
The antitrust watchdog, which falls under Yau’s Bureau of Trade and Economic Development, said last month it intended to introduce proposals to criminalize secret tenders as early as September.
Asked if his office was always aware of the spread of bid manipulation and chose to act only after the fatal fire, Yau said the government was aware of the matter, but added that it was not easy to gather evidence.
