The Hong Kong government has hit back at accusations in a US congressional commission annual report that Beijing has failed to honour its international obligations to protect the city’s autonomy and human rights, saying its remarks are “fact-twisting”.
The report, released on Wednesday, also cited the legal team of jailed former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying as saying that he “spent over 23 hours a day in his cell and was deprived of independent medical care”, which the government said was “completely baseless”.
The 2025 annual report of the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) also called on Washington to impose sanctions on city officials, prosecutors, judges, police and foreign financial institutions over the “systematic erosion” of Hong Kong’s autonomy and fundamental freedoms.
In a statement released on Thursday night, the government criticised the remarks made in the report as “biased, slanderous and smearing”.
“The government strongly disapproves of and opposes the CECC’s repeated attempts to interfere in the affairs of Hong Kong through the so-called annual report and make slanderous remarks against the city, where the ‘one country, two systems’ principle is successfully implemented,” it said.
“The US is once again overriding the rule of law with politics and making unfounded and fact-twisting remarks. Such attempts to undermine the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and interfere in the city’s law-based governance are doomed to fail.”
The 272-page report dedicates an 11-page chapter to Hong Kong and Macau, accusing Beijing and Hong Kong authorities of using national security laws to suppress and eliminate all forms of political dissent since the 2019 social unrest.
“The 2025 annual report traces broken promises across both international obligations and China’s own stated guarantees – the 50 years of rights and unchanged ‘way of life’ promised in Hong Kong,” the commission said.
It also cited the legal team of Jimmy Lai as saying that he had been held in solitary confinement, spending more than 23 hours a day in his cell and deprived of independent medical care.
But the government said in the press release that the remarks were “completely baseless”.
“During an earlier public court hearing, senior counsel representing Lai told the court that correctional institutions had been arranging daily medical check-ups for him and that there had been no complaints regarding the medical services he received,” it said.
“As for the arrangement regarding Lai’s removal from association, the so-called solitary confinement, it has consistently been made at his own request and approved by the Correctional Services Department after considering all relevant factors in accordance with the law.”
Last week, Lai’s daughter, Claire Lai Choi, told a news agency her father’s nails had turned “almost purple, grey and greenish” before falling off and that his teeth were becoming rotten.
Lai faced two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiracy to publish seditious materials in a 144-day trial, after he was prosecuted for allegedly urging foreign politicians to impose sanctions and trade restrictions on Hong Kong and mainland China, and providing financial support during the 2019 anti-government protests.
The verdict is expected to be delivered on Monday.
Apart from accusing Hong Kong authorities of using national security laws to suppress political dissent, the report also said women in the city faced workplace discrimination.
The government said that it strongly opposed the “absurd and untrue content” concerning legislation to safeguard national security in Hong Kong.
“Safeguarding national security is the inherent right of every sovereign state. Many common law jurisdictions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, have enacted various laws and implemented measures to protect national security,” it said.
It added that the Sex Discrimination Ordinance protected women from discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation in the prescribed area of employment.
