Section:GDN 1N PaGe:3 Edition Date:190821 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 20/8/2019 19:15 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
3Wednesday 21 Au g u st 2019 The Guardian •
News
A fearful text, then silence: worker at UK’s
Hong Kong consulate detained in China
Lily Kuo
Hong Kong
An employee at the UK’s consulate in
Hong Kong has been detained by main-
land Chinese authorities on his way
home, his girlfriend has said.
Simon Cheng, 28, was returning
from a trip in Shenzhen to his native
Hong Kong on 8 August when his
girlfriend, Li, stopped receiving
communications from him.
The Foreign Offi ce said: “We are
extremely concerned by reports that a
member of our team has been detained
returning to Hong Kong from Shenzhen
... We are providing support to his fam-
ily and seeking further information
from authorities in Guangdong prov-
ince and Hong Kong.”
Li said Cheng had messaged her just
before he went silent. “Ready to pass
through the border ... pray for me,” he
had written.
More than 10 days later Li and
Cheng’s family have been unable to
contact him. Li said Hong Kong immi-
gration authorities had told her Cheng
had been placed under “administra-
tive detention” in mainland China
in an unknown location and for
un known reasons.
The detention of Cheng, who works
in the consulate as a trade and invest-
ment offi cer for Scottish Development
International, comes after more than
two months of pro- democracy protestsin Hong Kong that have threatened
Beijing’s authority over the city.
Cheng’s detention was fi rst reported
by the Hong Kong news site HK01.
According to Li, he regularly travels
to mainland China for meetings and
had gone there most recently for work.
Hong Kong immigration offi cials
said in an emailed statement that
they ha d contacted the city’s liaison
offi ce in Guangdong province as well
as the Hong Kong government “to
understand the situation” and pro-
vide further assistance to the family.
Hong Kong has been rocked by mass
protests triggered by a bill that would
allow the extradition of suspects to
mainland China.
Cheng’s case further underlinesfears of a lack of transparency and fair-
ness in the Chinese judicial system and
the possibility that Hongkongers may
be detained for political reasons.
Under administrative detention,
through which authorities can detain
and interrogate people for a broad
number of off ences, Cheng can be
held for up to 15 days without charge.
Human rights campaigners say torture
and other forms of ill treatment are
common under this type of detention.
According to Li, Cheng had not par-
ticipated in the protests or expressed
his position on the movement in any
public forums. “As far as I know, he did
not attend any of the protests, even
the 1 million march. I am just worried
about him,” she said.Li, who met Cheng while he was
studying in Taiwan – where she is
from – has been calling and writing to
British, Chinese and Hong Kong offi -
cials for help. “ He grew up to be a very
caring, diligent and hard-working per-
son,” Li said. “Now he is missing and
detained for no reason. This is deeply
distressing for his family and friends.”
Li said she and Cheng had discussed
marriage, and the possibility of mov-
ing back to Taiwan, but Cheng wanted
to remain in Hong Kong. “He said he
loves Hong Kong and wanted to sac-
rifi ce all he has for his motherland.”
More than a million Hong Kong
residents defied a police ban and
poured into the streets on Sunday for
a peaceful demonstration , calling for
the withdrawal of the extradition bill
among other demands.
Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie
Lam , said yesterday she would set up
“a platform for dialogue” to tackle
complaints against the police, the gov-
ernment’s fi rst attempt at conciliation
in weeks. A rally in Cheng’s name had
been called for outside the British con-
sulate today.
Beijing has taken an increasingly
hard line against the protests, which
it has described as an attempt to start
a “colour revolution”. Twitter blocked
almost 1,000 accounts associated with
the Chinese government on Monday
while Facebook also removed seven
pages, three groups and fi ve accounts
that originated in China.
China has repeatedly warned Brit-
ain – the former colonial ruler of Hong
Kong – against “interference”.
Chinese immigration officials
have increased checks at the border
between mainland China and Hong
Kong, detaining people and checking
their phones and other devices.
In a separate development yester-
day, two Hong Kong police offi cers
were arrested after video emerged of
them beating an older man on a hos-
pital trolley, heaping further pressure
on a force already facing accusations
of brutality.Additional reporting Verna YuNasa mission to Jupiter’s moon
Europa moves closer to launch
Nicola Davis
A Nasa mission to explore the most
tantalising of Jupiter’s 79 moons has
been given the green light to go to the
fi nal stages of development, allowing
scientists to see through an endeav-
our that could shed light on whether
the ice-encrusted body harbours life
beneath its surface.
Europa which is slightly smaller
than our own moon – has long been
considered a possible candidate in the
hunt for alien life.
Evidence suggests there is an ocean
below the moon’s thick, icy crust that
might be tens of miles deep. Scien-
tists believe it might contain the right
chemical cocktail for life – or even be
home to living organisms.
Crucially, Europa appears to have
the hat-trick of conditions needed to
kick off life: water, possibly chemistry,
and energy, in the form of tidal heat-
ing, a phenomenon arising from the
gravitational tugs acting on the moon.This could not only drive chemical
reactions but also aid movement of
chemical substances between rock,
surface and ocean, possibly through
hydrothermal vents.
The Nasa mission, called Europa
Clipper , will make a number of close
fl y bys, carrying instruments to meas-
ure the moon’s magnetic fi eld. The
mission will also look for subsurface
lakes and provide data on the thick-
ness of the moon’s icy crust. The fl ybys
are important: if the spacecraft tried to
orbit the moon its electronics would be
fried by Jupiter’s radiation belt.
The scientists are hoping to confi rm
the presence of plumes of water, as
previously indicated by Nasa’s Gali-
leo spacecraft and the Hubble space
telescope. If confi rmed, it would meanscientists would not need to fi nd a way
of hacking through the crust to explore
the makeup of the ocean.
“We are all excited about the deci-
sion that moves the Europa Clipper
mission one key step closer to unlock-
ing the mysteries of this ocean world,”
said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate
administrator for the science mission
directorate at Nasa’s headquarters in
Washington.
Clipper is expected to launch in
2025, but could be ready a couple of
years earlier. However, it is not the
only mission heading for Europa. The
European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy
Moons Explorer (Juice ) is expected
to launch in 2022 and will undertake
fl ybys of three of the moons of Jupiter,
including Europa.▼ Protesters in Hong Kong on Sunday.
Opposition to an extradition bill has
prompted weeks of demonstrations
PHOTOGRAPH: ANTHONY KWAN/GETTY IMAGES▲ A Nasa collage of Jupiter (rear) and
some of the largest of its 79 moons▲ Simon Cheng works as a trade and
investment offi cer at the UK consulateRELEASED BY "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws