“Unfounded smears” about a UK court case that found a Hong Kong trade officer guilty of spying on overseas activists will not affect the government’s plans to expand trade offices in other countries, the city’s commerce chief has said.

The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in London. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau said in a Tuesday interview with news channel Now that the Hong Kong government had just opened a Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Kuala Lumpur last year and plans to open another in Saudi Arabia.

“The overseas trade offices are meant to promote economic, cultural, and education ties between two regions. I don’t think these unfounded smears will affect us setting up economic and trade offices in other countries,” he said.

In May, a UK court found Bill Yuen, an office manager at the Hong Kong trade office in London, and former UK Border Force official Peter Wai guilty under Britain’s national security laws.

Yuen and Wai – both British-Chinese dual nationals – were accused of spying on Hong Kong pro-democracy activists living in Britain.

Shortly after the verdict, the Hong Kong government issued a statement denying any link to the high-profile espionage case, saying the allegations were “absolutely not related to the HKSAR Government and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London.”

Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau meets the press on February 28, 2025 on the 2025 Budget initiatives. Photo: GovHK.

“We firmly oppose any unfounded allegations against the HKSAR Government and the London ETO,” the statement read.

Last month, Wai and Yuen were sentenced to 10 and eight years in prison respectively.

Asked about suggestions that companies in Hong Kong had divested to Singapore in recent years, Yau said on Tuesday that the number of foreign enterprises in Hong Kong had reached over 11,070.

Move to criminalise bid-rigging

Yau also said that the government was working with the Competition Commission to make bid-rigging a criminal offence after a probe into the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire last year brought to light the widespread issue of bid-rigging and corruption in maintenance works at residential buildings.

A tender document listing Prestige Construction \& Engineering Company as the top-rated contractor for maintenance works at Wang Fuk Court. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

The antitrust watchdog, which falls under Yau’s Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, said last month it aimed to table proposals to criminalise collusive tendering as early as September.

Asked if his bureau was always aware of the prevalence of bid-rigging and only chose to act after the fatal blaze, Yau said that the government knew of the issue but added that it was not easy to gather evidence.