Hong Kong trade offices’ activities are legitimate but may risk crossing ‘blurry’ security red lines of host nations: experts
- A foreign government may level accusations of espionage when it thinks its boundaries have been crossed, international relations expert Wilson Chan says
- City’s Economic and Trade Offices put under spotlight after manager ensnared in an alleged spying case
Hong Kong’s overseas trade offices’ pursuit of economic diplomacy is a widely accepted and “absolutely legitimate” approach, but it risks crossing the host countries’ national security red lines which can be “blurry”, international relations experts have said.
The city’s Economic and Trade Offices (ETOs) set up outside mainland China have again drawn intense scrutiny after a manager of the London-based one was charged, alongside two others, by British authorities for allegedly spying on behalf of Hong Kong.
International relations expert Wilson Chan Wai-shun of the Chinese University of Hong Kong said the city’s trade promotion offices played a function that was more similar to the trade and commerce counsellors deployed within sovereign states’ diplomatic missions than independent trade promotion associations.
“Because of Hong Kong’s unique status, ETOs are actually regarded by other countries as the de facto commercial counsellor function, so these ETOs are given the convenience and granted some diplomatic immunity and diplomatic legal powers tied to commercial consular functions,” Chan said.
The one in London, for instance, enjoys specific diplomatic exemptions and privileges under Britain’s Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Act 1996.
However, political pressure is mounting for London to strip the city’s economic office of its diplomatic privileges.
