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China detains employee of Britain's Hong Kong mission, UK urged to act

snoop1130

By snoop1130
in World News

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snoop1130 Legendary Member

snoop1130

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China detains employee of Britain's Hong Kong mission, UK urged to act

 

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Simon Cheng, a staff member of Britain’s consulate in Hong Kong, who was reported missing by local media after visiting the neighbouring mainland city of Shenzhen, is seen in an unknown location in this undated photo obtained from the Facebook page "Free Simon Cheng". “FACEBOOK / FREE SIMON CHENG” /via REUTERS

 

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese national working at Britain’s Hong Kong consulate has been detained in China’s border city of Shenzhen for violating the law, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday, likely worsening already strained ties between Beijing and London.

 

Britain has said it is “extremely concerned” by reports that the staff member at the consulate in its former colony had been detained.

 

Simon Cheng did not return to work on Aug. 9 after visiting the neighboring mainland city of Shenzhen the previous day, Hong Kong news website HK01 reported, citing an interview with his girlfriend and family.

 

Cheng’s family confirmed his disappearance in a Facebook post on Tuesday night, saying he traveled from Hong Kong to Shenzhen on the morning of Aug. 8 for a business trip.

 

Speaking at a daily news briefing in Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Shenzhen police had detained Cheng for 15 days by for violating public security management regulations. He gave no details.

 

“He is not a British citizen. He is a Chinese person, so this is entirely a matter of China’s internal affairs,” Geng said.

 

“As for Britain’s comments, we’ve made stern representations to Britain for the series of comments and actions they’ve made on Hong Kong,” he said.

 

He also called on Britain to stop interfering in China’s internal affairs.

 

“Britain has made a series of wrong statements on Hong Kong. We again urge them to stop gesticulating and to stop fanning the flames,” Geng said.

 

Shenzhen police declined immediate comment.

 

Hong Kong police said Cheng left for China “around Aug. 9 with no further movement record we could find”.

 

“Our liaison team had actually enquired with the mainland authority about the whereabouts of this gentlemen,” Senior Superintendent Kong Wing-cheung told a news conference.

 

“However, the results are still pending.”

 

Hong Kong has been gripped by anti-government protests in recent weeks, with China accusing Britain and other Western countries of meddling in its affairs.

 

Britain, the United States and other countries have urged China to respect the “one country, two systems” formula under which Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

 

Max Chung, a friend of Cheng, organized a small protest against his detention outside the consulate in Hong Kong. He said Cheng had not been involved in any of the anti-government demonstrations.

 

“Simon’s case has shown very serious consequences to everybody in Hong Kong,” he told reporters, urging the British government to “save Simon now”.

 

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-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-08-21
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nobodysfriend Platinum Member

nobodysfriend

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Now it is up to China to show some goodwill and let him free ... or demonstrate the " strength and power " of the chinese government and punish him or make him disappear , what will be internationally regarded as a violation of human rights .

Which way will they take ? Will be interesting to see and will tell a lot about possible future relations to China .

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nobodysfriend Platinum Member

nobodysfriend

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1 hour ago, car720 said:

If the world doesn't stand up to the CCP now then they will never be able to.  Then again they never stood up when they took Tibet.

 

1 hour ago, gamesgplayemail said:

The world should stop China. I wish that Trump shows them the way we treat monkeys.

The world ... what world ?

There is no such thing as a world that has one voice ... a lot of different opinions everywhere . No unity at all , more like everybody against everybody .

The expectation that the ' world ' will condemn china's move is simply naive .

 

BTW , please explain  " Trump shows them the way we treat monkeys. " What way is this ?

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jany123 Advanced Member

jany123

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Posted
2 hours ago, gamesgplayemail said:

The world should stop China. I wish that Trump shows them the way we treat monkeys.

 

 

Yer.... that’ll work.... hey! look how tough we are on the monkeys!

 

mind you... I think it was China that used to chop open a monkeys head and eat its brains, while the monkey still lived, so just maybe China would win that one.

 

Then again, if by “monkeys”, you mean asylum seekers at the southern border, then you need to check that s*** at the door.

 

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Baerboxer Star Member

Baerboxer

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6 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

Now it is up to China to show some goodwill and let him free ... or demonstrate the " strength and power " of the chinese government and punish him or make him disappear , what will be internationally regarded as a violation of human rights .

Which way will they take ? Will be interesting to see and will tell a lot about possible future relations to China .

 

No it's not. He is a Chinese national who happens to work for the British Consulate (he works for the Scottish Government according to the BBC, so not even actually working for the UK government). 

 

It's up to the police to charge him and reveal why he was arrested or release him with no charges and an explanation.

 

He isn't a British citizen, nor a British government employee or diplomat. He is not above the law in any way.

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Traubert Gold Member

Traubert

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Posted
14 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

No it's not. He is a Chinese national who happens to work for the British Consulate (he works for the Scottish Government according to the BBC, so not even actually working for the UK government). 

 

It's up to the police to charge him and reveal why he was arrested or release him with no charges and an explanation.

 

He isn't a British citizen, nor a British government employee or diplomat. He is not above the law in any way.

It doesn't work like that in China. The police can keep him on 'Administrative Detention' for up to 15 days for minor infractions and not charge him with anything. They don't have to tell anyone except his NOK.

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stevenl Star Member

stevenl

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2 minutes ago, Traubert said:

It doesn't work like that in China. The police can keep him on 'Administrative Detention' for up to 15 days for minor infractions and not charge him with anything. They don't have to tell anyone except his NOK.

NOK?

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Morch Star Member

Morch

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4 hours ago, Traubert said:

What if he actually did something illegal? It's strange that these people who get nicked in China are always shining beacons of innocence.

 

And how would you know whether he did or not? Unless, that is, you have profound trust in the Chinese government and relevant law enforcement bodies. Maybe he'll make a "convincing" public statement, once they're done with investigation/interrogation.

 

People nicked in China aren't always a beacon of anything - other than on propaganda-like posts.

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Morch Star Member

Morch

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8 minutes ago, Traubert said:

Seems he was arrested for soliciting a prostitute so says SCMP. Silly boy.

 

SCMP is quoting "a Chinese state-run tabloid".

 

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3023939/british-consulate-employee-simon-cheng-man-kit-detained

 

And for further reference:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_China_Morning_Post#Controversies


:coffee1:

 

 

 

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Traubert Gold Member

Traubert

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2 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

And whether you choose to accept the report as true, without questions, is a choice. Same goes for treating SCMP as fully credible on such matters.

'Seems like.' Clue, right there. 'So says.' Another clue.

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zydeco Platinum Member

zydeco

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Lesson: If you are outside China, don't take the risk on entering. Same goes for N Korea and Russia. Chinese arresting Canadians willy nilly along with Interpol officials, N Korea locking up diabetics and denying them medicine that eventually kills them, and Russians just plain out murdering people. Should be a cordon around the countries. The Iron Curtain and the Bamboo Curtain were just fine with me.

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car720 Gold Member

car720

Posted
Posted
On 8/22/2019 at 1:22 PM, nobodysfriend said:

 

The world ... what world ?

There is no such thing as a world that has one voice ... a lot of different opinions everywhere . No unity at all , more like everybody against everybody .

The expectation that the ' world ' will condemn china's move is simply naive .

 

BTW , please explain  " Trump shows them the way we treat monkeys. " What way is this ?

It is not rocket science really to understand that 'the world' refers to those that are capable.

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Morch Star Member

Morch

Posted
Posted
26 minutes ago, car720 said:

It is not rocket science really to understand that 'the world' refers to those that are capable.

 

Still nonsensical. There aren't "those that are capable". And the cooperation point remains valid.

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car720 Gold Member

car720

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Posted
1 hour ago, Morch said:

 

Still nonsensical. There aren't "those that are capable". And the cooperation point remains valid.

Well, the world reacted to a nasty little fellow with a funny moustache so why can't the world react to a bloated Chinaman.

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zydeco Platinum Member

zydeco

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Posted
6 minutes ago, car720 said:

Well, the world reacted to a nasty little fellow with a funny moustache so why can't the world react to a bloated Chinaman.

Would that it were possible. But the "world" didn't react against the funny mustache. Half of Europe sided or sympathized with funny mustache. So did Comrade Stalin at the start. So did China, Japan, along with some unofficial but sympathetic leanings in South America. And don't forget the little country in Southeast Asia that through Japan was an ally/friend of the funny mustache. Now, a lot of those same countries that sided with the mustache in the 1930s are lining up behind the Big Panda in 2019.

 

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Morch Star Member

Morch

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, car720 said:

Well, the world reacted to a nasty little fellow with a funny moustache so why can't the world react to a bloated Chinaman.

 

That's some nice bit of historical revisionism. In reality, the point was that the world did not stand up to that guy, until it was (almost) too late.

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