Andy Chan Ho-tin (center), the founder of the Hong Kong National Party, is surrounded by members of the media as he leaves the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong on August 14, 2018. Philip Fong | AFP | Getty Images

Hong Kong has refused to renew the work visa of a Financial Times journalist after he presided over a speech at the local foreign press club by a politician advocating independence from China for the former British colony. The Financial Times, in an emailed statement to CNBC on Friday, said "no reason has been given for the rejection." Victor Mallet, Asia news editor for the British-based, Japanese-owned paper, chaired the event in August at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Hong Kong in his capacity as a vice president of the institution. The speech on Aug. 14 by Andy Chan Ho-tin of the now-banned Hong Kong National Party and a question-and-answer session that followed drew condemnation from mainland Chinese and Hong Kong authorities, who had called for it to be canceled. "This is the first time we have encountered this situation in Hong Kong," the Financial Times said. The Hong Kong government in a statement said that it would not comment on individual cases. "In handling each application, the Immigration Department acts in accordance with the laws and prevailing policies, and decides whether to approve or refuse the application after careful consideration of individual circumstances of each case," the statement said.

'Extremely rare'

The FCC said it was expecting a full explanation from the Hong Kong authorities. "In the absence of any reasonable explanation, the FCC calls on the Hong Kong authorities to rescind their decision," the club said in a statement late on Friday, describing the move as "extremely rare, if not unprecedented." Britain handed back Hong Kong to China in 1997 but not before negotiating guarantees for the territory's autonomy, including the retention of its legal system and free speech protections. But the central government in Beijing has drawn a red line at any independence advocacy. In an unprecedented move, Hong Kong authorities last month banned Chan's party as a security threat. Analysts and human rights advocates have expressed concern in recent years over moves by Beijing that they say are eroding Hong Kong's autonomy under the "one country, two systems" framework that was supposed to remain unchanged for 50 years from 1997. In the speech, Chan lashed out at China, calling it a "large empire" that was trying to eliminate Hong Kong's local identity. He said the city had been a British colony and was now a Chinese one. Ahead of the speech, the city's Foreign Correspondents' Club issued a statement defending the need to hear different views and said that its invitations do not indicate endorsement or opposition of the the views of the speakers.

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