Jimmy Lai’s son Sebastian Lai speaks at a press conference outside Downing Street in London on September 15, 2025.
Henry Nichols AFP | Getty Images
The Chinese embassy in London on Tuesday criticized Britain’s decision to expand its visa program for Hong Kong residents as interference in its internal affairs after a court sentenced pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison under national security laws.
Britain expanded its British National Overseas (BNO) visa scheme on Monday, allowing children of BNO status holders who were under 18 at the time of Hong Kong’s handover in June 1997 to apply for the route independently of their parents.
“BNO misled Hong Kong residents to leave their homeland and end up living in the UK as a second-class citizen, facing discrimination and hardship,” an embassy spokesperson said in a statement in Chinese translated by CNBC.
The embassy called the planned expansion “despicable” and “reprehensible.”
“China has always firmly opposed the UK’s manipulation and interference in China’s internal affairs,” an embassy spokesperson said.
The plan was launched in 2021 after the Chinese government imposed sweeping national security laws on Hong Kong. Since then, more than 230,000 people have obtained visas and around 170,000 people have moved to the UK.
The diplomatic tensions arose after Lai was sentenced on Monday by a Hong Kong court, one of the city’s most prominent prosecutors. This was the heaviest punishment ever imposed under the national security law.
The 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily was a vocal critic of Beijing and was one of the first celebrities arrested in August 2020. He was jailed on charges of colluding with foreign forces and publishing inflammatory material. Mr. Lai has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
During a visit to Beijing last month, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer raised the matter with Chinese President Xi Jinping and called for the release of Lai, a British national. Critics and Mr Lai’s family say Britain has not taken sufficient concrete steps to change course.
The UK government said in a statement that it showed how national security laws imposed by the Chinese government “criminalize dissent and force many people to leave its territory”, adding that it would “quickly engage further with[the Chinese government]on Mr Lai’s case”.
The expansion of the visa route comes amid what the UK government describes as a “deterioration of rights and freedoms” in Hong Kong. The government estimates that 26,000 people will arrive in the UK over the next five years.
Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee, said on Tuesday that Lai deserves a harsh sentence for all the harm he has done, including “using Apple Daily to poison the minds of the people” and “conspiring with foreign forces to impose sanctions and hostility against China and Hong Kong.”
Following the verdict, other governments have renewed calls for Lai’s release. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the sentence “unjust and tragic” and called on authorities to grant Lai humanitarian parole.
