Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Hong Kong counterpart in on the issue of work visas to journalists.

The Foreign Secretary issued the following statement on 9 October 2018:

“I remain very concerned by the Hong Kong authorities’ unprecedented rejection of a visa for senior British journalist Victor Mallet. In the absence of an explanation from the authorities we can only conclude that this move is politically motivated. This undermines Hong Kong’s freedom of speech and freedom of the press, both guaranteed by the Joint Declaration, and the Basic Law, and increases the pressure on the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ framework. I urge the Hong Kong authorities to reconsider this decision. Confidence in Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms is an essential component of its future success.”

It is imperative that journalists are allowed to perform their work independently, and without interference.

We have raised this issue with the Hong Kong authorities.