Northern Ireland

Stormont says releasing minutes on Hong Kong would harm relations with China

Arlene Foster and Michelle O'Neill with Belfast's Chinese Consul General, Madame Zhang Meifang, and inset, how The Irish News revealed the ministers' alleged comments
Arlene Foster and Michelle O'Neill with Belfast's Chinese Consul General, Madame Zhang Meifang, and inset, how The Irish News revealed the ministers' alleged comments Arlene Foster and Michelle O'Neill with Belfast's Chinese Consul General, Madame Zhang Meifang, and inset, how The Irish News revealed the ministers' alleged comments

ARLENE Foster and Michelle O'Neill's department has refused to release minutes of a conference call in which they allegedly endorsed Hong Kong's draconian security laws – claiming their publication would harm relations with China.

For more than a month the first and deputy first ministers have resisted calls to publish Stormont's official record of their discussion in July with Belfast's Chinese consul general.

The Irish News revealed a report by the consulate claimed the ministers had said they "understand and respect" the controversial legislation imposed by China.

The Executive Office (TEO) did not initially deny the claim, instead only confirming a "courtesy call" took place.

As pressure mounted, it subsequently said this did not reflect the ministers' comments during the video call. The report on the consulate's website was later changed to remove the controversial statement.

DUP leader Mrs Foster tweeted that her position on Hong Kong was the same as the British government, while Sinn Féin vice-president Ms O'Neill said she "made it very clear that I supported the 'One Country, Two Systems' international agreement".

TEO had yet to respond at the time of writing to several Freedom of Information requests submitted by The Irish News seeking copies of the minutes and relevant correspondence.

However, the department told the Belfast Telegraph it will not disclose the information at this time.

"It is considered that the release of the minutes would be prejudicial to relations between the UK (NI) and China and is likely to be prejudicial to the interest of the UK (NI) abroad and the promotion of the UK (NI) abroad," it said.

The new security laws, which give China more powers over Hong Kong, have sparked protests and have been internationally condemned as a brutal crackdown on human rights.

The superpower has also been vilified for the internment of an estimated one million Uighur Muslims in northwest China in so-called 're-education' camps.

British foreign secretary Dominic Raab has said the Hong Kong legislation "constitutes a clear and serious breach" of the Joint Declaration between the UK and China of 1984.

Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International's Northern Ireland programme director, criticised Stormont's refusal to publish its records.

"The public has a right to know what is being said on our behalf to a government responsible for atrocious human rights abuses," he said.

"The original Chinese report of this meeting recorded that Northern Ireland's political leaders appeared to endorse their crackdown in Hong Kong and remained silent about the internment of a million Uighurs in Xinjiang, just days after footage emerged of hundreds of prisoners shackled and blindfolded on a train station platform.

"If the first and deputy first minister did challenge these human rights abuses, we need clear evidence of that.

"We also now need a clear public condemnation from Arlene Foster and Michelle O'Neill of what the Chinese government is doing in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

"Following this meeting, silence is no longer an option."