Photograph: Michael Ho Wai Lee/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
In recent weeks, Hong Kong national security police have embarked on a tactic more commonly associated with their counterparts in mainland China. In early July, Hong Kong police announced arrest warrants and HK$1m bounties for eight dissidents currently in exile overseas. Just days later officers began showing up at their families’ homes in Hong Kong, taking away parents, siblings, children and in-laws for questioning.
None of the family members have been arrested or charged. Observers and supporters say while there is still fear that could happen, it isn’t really the point.
“It’s essentially hostage-taking, sending a message to activists and potential activists abroad that if you stand up to the Hong Kong government they’ll go after your family,” says Samuel Bickett, a US-based fellow at Georgetown’s centre for Asian law, and a former activist who was previously jailed in Hong Kong.
“Whatever [the authorities] do to couch this in terms of the law – saying they’re interviewing witness and things like that – that’s not what this is. They know exactly where these [activists] are and what they’re doing, there is absolutely no reason to question the families.”
The eight overseas activists include three in the UK – Nathan Law, Finn Lau and Christopher Mung Siu-tat. Two others are in Australia – lawyer Kevin Yam and former legislator Ted Hui. Former legislator Dennis Kwok, businessman Elmer Yuen, and activist Anna Kwok, are US based. Hong Kong chief executive John Lee said they would be pursued “to the ends of the earth” and people should avoid them “like street rats”.
Chilling effect
On 11 July, Law’s parents and brother were taken in for questioning. Law had left Hong Kong and sought political asylum in the UK in 2020, where he has continued to be an outspoken advocate. Police said Law’s family were suspected of “assisting” him, an accusation Law described as “completely absurd”. Law has repeatedly said he no longer has contact with family members.
“I can firmly declare that the involved parties have no financial connection with me, and my work is totally unrelated to them,” he said.
Less than two weeks later police took family members of Dennis Kwok and Mung in for questioning. Mung has lived in the UK since September 2021. Kwok, who is Canadian-born, announced in April 2021 that he had left Hong Kong for the US.
On 8 August police questioned the parents of Anna Kwok. Kwok, executive director of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, fled Hong Kong in 2020 to seek political asylum in the US.
“Although I feel guilty, I have to say that it is the price,” she said on Facebook, apologising to her family. “While I’ve never done anything wrong, I am beyond sorry.”
The interrogation of family members has not prompted any of the exiles to return home. Anna Kwok, who lobbied the US government to bar Lee from an Apec summit, urged the Hong Kong diaspora to reject the “incitement of fear” and continue “insisting on freedom”. Lau recorded a podcast with the Guardian this month, and Law recently sat down for an extensive interview with BBC’s Hardtalk. Yam continues to urge governments to sanction Hong Kong and Chinese officials.
But the tactics of the Hong Kong authorities have achieved what several observers told the Guardian was the true aim: scaring other overseas activists and potential activists into silence.
‘Hong Kong is like big prison’
Questioning relatives is a long-running and relatively common occurrence in China, which has increasing control and influence over the city and the way it is run.
Hong Kong’s government claims its national security law has global jurisdiction, but it’s nearly impossible to enforce without the cooperation of other governments. Several countries including Australia and the UK indefinitely suspended their extradition treaties with Hong Kong after the law was introduced. But many countries are more cooperative, and there is growing awareness about China’s security and police presence in foreign countries.
Overseas Hongkongers are fearful, and people with family and other connections to the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong now often avoid particular jurisdictions when travelling internationally.
Bickett said since the raids on the exiles’ families there have already been cases in the US of Hong Kong activists withdrawing from activism and other events. “It really shows the effect, and the key point is: that’s exactly why they’re doing this. It’s a gangster tactic.”
Earlier this month police targeted relatives of Elmer Yuen for the second time. Yuen is a proponent of a Hong Kong parliament-in-exile, an idea among Hong Kong independence activists that has gained attention since the police raids. The first raid saw his daughter, son and daughter-in-law taken in for questioning.
At an event in London earlier this month, Yuen told the Guardian he worries about his children in Hong Kong more than they worry about him overseas.
“Hong Kong is like big prison. If they don’t allow you to leave the airport, there’s nothing you can do,” he said. But in a speech to attendees of the event he stood firm: “Hong Kong freedom is much more important than personal wealth or family.”
Yuen’s family situation is more complicated – and public – than that of some of the others. His son Derek is a former political adviser to the pro-establishment New People’s party, of which Derek’s wife, Eunice Yung, is a member and legislator. Yung has publicly rebuked Yuen’s pro-democracy leanings. After she was released by police, Yung spoke to the press, telling them she supported the police actions. Derek was reportedly released later.
“I cooperated with the police and have told them everything I know,” she said, adding that if she knew of Yuen’s whereabouts she would “definitely disclose it to the police”.
Yuen said the police questioned his family for more than five hours, mainly about his financial situation and how he was funding the Hong Kong parliament campaign. “Derek is my son, so he’s caught in the middle,” he said.
The UK, US and Australian governments all issued statements condemning the bounties against the activists, highlighting what some analysts said was an own goal for Hong Kong, which is trying to attract foreign businesses back to the city.
Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, remains worried that the targeting of families could escalate to arrests or even criminal charges under the very broad national security law and sedition ordinance.
“We’ve seen this in many other circumstances across the mainland,” Richardson said. “Every time people ask a question like that I’ve taught myself to think back five, 10, 20 years and see if we saw this [crackdown in Hong Kong] coming. We didn’t necessarily anticipate this escalation of hostility, or the appalling distortions of law, misrepresentations of law.
“This is going to be an ongoing story.”
