CHINA said today the United States “must not interfere” in its judicial affairs, hitting back at criticism from Washington over the repatriation of a Chinese human rights lawyer from neighbouring Laos.

Lu Siwei was arrested by Laotian police in July and transported back to China last month, where he was likely to face legal repercussions, a rights group said.

The US earlier denounced what it called Lu’s “forced repatriation”, calling for details on his whereabouts and assurances on the ailing activist’s access to medical care.

But Beijing’s Foreign Ministry brushed off the statement today, saying Washington “should earnestly respect China’s judicial sovereignty and must not interfere in any way with Chinese judicial authorities in handling cases in accordance with the law”.

“China is a country governed under the rule of law,” ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing.

“Judicial authorities hear cases strictly in accordance with the law and fully protect the legal rights of concerned personnel.”

Lu was one of the lawyers appointed by families of a Hong Kong activist group that was intercepted by authorities in 2020 while attempting to flee the city by boat to Taiwan.

Laotian authorities arrested Lu while he was on his way to Thailand, and he was held at a detention facility in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, his family told Amnesty International, a rights advocacy group.

Yesterday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the US “condemns the forced repatriation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) national and human rights lawyer Lu Siwei to the PRC from Laos, at the request of PRC authorities”.

“We call on the PRC to confirm Lu’s current location; allow for external verification by independent observers of Lu’s well-being, including access for doctors to treat Lu’s chronic health condition; and enable his access to a lawyer of his choosing,” Miller said, using China’s official name.

Lu and another human rights lawyer – Ren Quanniu, who also sought to represent members of the “Hong Kong 12” who attempted to escape to Taiwan – had their legal licences revoked in 2021 by authorities.

Following large-scale pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong that erupted in 2019, Beijing cracked down on legal professionals offering activists representation, in a campaign critics have slammed as an attempt to silence dissent.

Mainland authorities accused Lu of “inappropriate remarks on the internet (and) seriously damaging the lawyer industry’s image”.

But Lu told AFP in 2021 he believed the accusations were “just a cover” and that his decision to take on several sensitive cases had “marked (his) destiny”. – AFP, October 12, 2023.