Looks like foreign powers are again in trouble with the People’s Republic of China as it “summons Western envoys in Hong Kong over Jimmy Lai sentencing criticism” (Reuters, February 14, 2026).
China’s foreign ministry commissioner’s office in Hong Kong said on Saturday it had summoned the heads of the UK, U.S., Australian and European Union missions over their officials’ negative comments on Jimmy Lai’s sentencing.
The office said it expressed “strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition” and urged those governments to respect China’s sovereignty and Hong Kong’s rule of law, stop “irresponsible” remarks on national security cases and cease interfering in Hong Kong and China’s internal affairs.
The 78-year-old Lai (shown above in better days) was recently sentenced to twenty more years in prison after having endured a months-long show trial. He is innocent of any wrongdoing. He is being punished because he was a leader of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy, anti-tyranny protests. As publisher of the eventually banned Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, Lai made sure that his perspective got a lot of attention.
Is it important for Western governments to have diplomatic outposts in places like mainland China and Hong Kong? No diplomacy is happening. What is the totalitarian dictatorship doing differently in consequence of the availability of foreign diplomats to hector?
I guess if the West is conducting fruitful espionage via the consulates and embassies, this would be a decent rationale for maintaining them in the People’s Republic. If so, what’s the next step? Maybe Western governments should ask the Chinese government for permission to build mega-embassies like the Chinese mega-embassy that the Starmer ministry of Great Britain, ignoring all rational objections, just approved.
