Global Courant
Hong Kong’s leader said on Tuesday that eight pro-democracy activists now living in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia will face “life imprisonment” for alleged national security violations, dismissing criticism that the step to have them arrested was a dangerous precedent. .
Chief Executive John Lee expressed support for police efforts to arrest the eight. At his weekly media briefing, Lee said anyone, including their friends and relatives, who offered information leading to their arrests would be eligible for the bounties offered by the police.
“The only way to end their fate of being a hider who will be haunted for life is to surrender,” he said.
The arrest warrants were issued for former pro-democracy lawmakers Nathan Law, Ted Hui and Dennis Kwok; attorney Kevin Yam; trade unionist Mung Siu-tat; and activists Finn Lau, Anna Kwok and Elmer Yuen. They were charged with violating Beijing-mandated national security law by committing crimes such as colluding with foreign powers and inciting secession.
Born in Edmonton, Kwok served eight years in the Hong Kong legislature until 2020 and has since returned to North America.
LISTEN | Nathan Law speaks to CBC’s As It Happens about Beijing’s efforts:
As it happens7:48“The abuse of power is obvious,” says a Hong Kong political activist accused of foreign conspiracy
Hong Kong police have issued a classified ad for eight pro-democracy activists in self-imposed exile abroad. They are charged with violating the city’s national security law, which stands for subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorism. Nathan Law is one of them. He is a former legislator from Hong Kong who now lives in London, England. He spoke with As It Happens presenter Nil Köksal.
Law, now in Britain, told CBC’s As It Happens on Monday that the bounty means he’ll be careful, but he won’t “stop my advocacy.”
“Since I left Hong Kong three years ago, I live a relatively discreet life because I know I am a target of the Chinese regime and I will try to protect myself,” he said.
Rewards for arrests a first under the law
More than 260 people have been arrested under the law enacted in 2020 as part of Beijing’s broad crackdown on dissent in the territory, but rewards of one million Hong Kong dollars ($169,000 Cdn) for information leading to any arrest led were the first under the law.
The US State Department condemned what it called “transnational repressive efforts that threaten and undermine human rights”. In Canberra, Foreign Secretary Penny Wong tweeted that her country was “deeply concerned” about the arrest warrants, and that Australia would support them in exercising the right to freedom of expression and assembly.
Photos of the eight people for whom arrest warrants have been issued will be shown at a press conference in Hong Kong on Monday. Clockwise from top left, they are: Kevin Yam, Elmer Yuan, Anna Kwok, Dennis Kwok, Nathan Law, Finn Lau, Mung Siu-tat and Ted Hui. (Joyce Zhou/Reuters)
But Lee, the only candidate put forward by Beijing last year to take over Carrie Lam as Hong Kong’s chief executive insisted that extraterritorial power exists in many countries’ national security laws. He said his government will not be guided by comments from foreign officials and politicians.
In addition, Security Minister Chris Tang said authorities wanted to freeze and confiscate all assets the eight had in Hong Kong. He warned that anyone helping them endanger national security may be breaking the law.
Eunice Yung, a pro-Beijing legislator and Yuen’s daughter-in-law, supported the police move, reiterating that she had already severed ties with Yuen last August.
“All his actions have nothing to do with me,” she said on her Facebook page.
Reports from ‘police stations’ outside China
Mung, now in Australia, vowed in a statement that he would not stop advocating for Hong Kong labor rights abroad.
“If I were ever found guilty, my only ‘crime’ would be to speak the truth for my fellow Hong Kongers,” he said.
For those who asked:
Yes, this is the photo I used to renew my HKID card when I was 18.
The 18-year-old never thought the photo would be published worldwide in an arrest warrant (with a bounty) 8 years later.
Note: They have widened the photo on the warrant. pic.twitter.com/LhEN5Nv6ut
Anna Kwok tweeted that she “never imagined” a photo taken when she was a teenager for a government-issued ID “would be published worldwide in an arrest warrant (with a bounty).”
The row reflects a new source of disagreement between Beijing and the West over the alleged overseas reach of China’s enforcement agencies. China reportedly ran secret overseas police stations in several countries, including Canada, where Chinese communities included critics of the Communist Party or people with business or family contacts in China. Beijing denied they are police stations, saying they exist mainly to provide civilian services such as renewing driver’s licenses.
Last month, a trial in federal court in Brooklyn was the first in the US stems from what US officials have dubbed China’s Operation Fox Hunt, the initiative Beijing characterizes as a pursuit of justice fugitives. US authorities have said some of the incidents involve using government agents to harass, threaten and silence critics living outside China.
Three men were convicted of a variety of charges, including Michael McMahon, a former New York City police sergeant who conducted surveillance and searched records to fumigate the carefully guarded address of a man seeking to repatriate Beijing.
