Sir Keir Starmer has been criticised for meeting China’s president Xi Jinping just hours before 45 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists were sentenced for attempting to field opposition candidates in an election.

Among those sentenced were Benny Tai, who was jailed for 10 years and Joshua Wong, sentenced to four years, for “subversion” after being involved in the “Hong Kong 47” group of activists and lawmakers.

The imprisonments were the largest use of the authoritarian National Security Law brought in to clamp down on democracy in Hong Kong in 2019.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, former chair of the Democratic Party in Hong Kong, Emily Lau, suggested Sir Keir’s meeting with Xi at the G20 a mere hours before the sentencing meant the UK’s agreements with China over the governance of the territory before its handover in 1997 were “evaporating”.

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