China asks Hong Kong consulates to submit info on local staff

HONG KONG – China has asked consulates in Hong Kong to submit information on locally hired employees, including their home addresses, a move that gives Beijing stepped-up oversight of the city. 

The Chinese Foreign Ministry wants the missions to provide a copy of local employees’ identification cards and details such as job titles, employment start date, permanent residency status and visa information, according to a letter and form sent to consulates in Hong Kong on Monday and seen by Bloomberg News.

The documents tell missions to comply with the request by Oct 18 and submit information on new staff within 15 days of their first day of work. The form also indicates that the personal data provided can be shared with other bureaus and departments.

The Hong Kong Free Press reported earlier on the letter. Representatives from the Hong Kong government and China’s Foreign Ministry based in the city did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other nations ask missions for similar information about locals they employ, and embassies on the mainland must hire Chinese nationals through a government-controlled agency.

Still, the move by China appears to be in step with its focus on national security in the financial hub.

Beijing

imposed a national security law on Hong Kong

in mid-2020 in response to mass protests against the government.

In 2019, the United Kingdom summoned the Chinese ambassador after a former employee of the British consulate in Hong Kong

said he was beaten for information about protesters

while detained on the mainland.

China criticised then Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and warned that interference in its affairs “will eventually harm UK interests”.

This summer, Hong Kong officials placed

a HK$1 million (S$174,500) bounty on eight overseas activists,

alleging that they committed offences under the law even after leaving the city.

The United States said extraterritorial applications of the law set “a dangerous precedent” that threatens people’s rights and freedoms.

In 2022, the Financial Times reported that Beijing had asked foreign diplomats for floor plans of all properties rented by foreign missions in Hong Kong. BLOOMBERG