EU Adopts 28th Annual Report on Hong Kong, Citing Continued Erosion of Autonomy and Freedoms

Key points

• The European Commission and the High Representative adopted the 28th annual report on Hong Kong, covering developments in 2025.
• The report says Hong Kong's autonomy and fundamental freedoms continued to erode, with national security remaining the government's focus in the fifth year of the National Security Law.
• Trials of pro-democracy figures continued in 2025; in December Jimmy Lai was convicted on national security and sedition charges and has been held continuously since 31 December 2020, mostly in solitary confinement.
• Joshua Wong was newly charged with conspiring to collude with foreign forces while serving a sentence; Kwok Yin-sang, father of exiled activist Anna Kwok, was prosecuted for attempting to deal with his daughter's financial assets, the first such charge against a relative of a wanted activist.
• Hong Kong authorities issued arrest warrants with bounties against 15 more overseas activists, including a European citizen.
• In 2025 Hong Kong remained the world's third-largest financial centre; about 1,770 EU companies were active there, and the EU was Hong Kong's sixth-largest goods trading partner at €27.7 billion, with an EU surplus of €18.9 billion.