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Exclusive | European Parliament to call for Beijing Winter Olympic boycott and sanctions on Hong Kong leaders over Apple Daily closure

  • The Parliament is expected to support a motion that expresses concern about the ‘dismantling of the city’s free society’
  • The non-binding motion also urges Brussels to impose ‘targeted sanctions’ on the city’s leaders, including Chief Executive Carrie Lam

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The motion calls for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Photo: AFP
Finbarr Bermingham
The European Parliament is to adopt a resolution calling for sanctions on Hong Kong officials and a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics in response to the closure of the newspaper Apple Daily and the “dismantling of the free society in Hong Kong”.
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A debate and vote will be held in the Parliament on Thursday, after major political parties spent Tuesday and early Wednesday finalising a resolution that ratchets up criticism of Beijing’s ongoing crackdown.

It is expected to pass by a large majority, but will not be binding. Rather, it offers guidance to the European Commission and the Council of the EU about the prevalent mood in the Parliament, the bloc’s only directly elected major body.

A draft resolution seen by the South China Morning Post urges the EU to impose “targeted sanctions” on Hong Kong government officials, including Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, Security Secretary Chris Tang Ping-keung, former police chief Stephen Lo Wai-chung and Chief Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu.

It also calls for sanctions on mainland officials – including the Director of the Hong Kong and Macau Office Xia Baolong, his predecessor Zhang Xiaoming, head of the liaison office Luo Huining and Zheng Yanxiong, head of Beijing’s Office for Safeguarding National Security – as well “as well as PRC institutions, having a crucial role in adopting measures and complicit actions undermining Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and freedoms”.

The proposed resolution contains 28 points, such as following the lead of Britain, Australia and Canada in introducing a “lifeboat scheme” that allows “pro-democratic activists and political leaders in Hong Kong” to move to the EU.

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