Hong Kong’s national security police on Tuesday issued a fresh round of arrest warrants for six people living overseas, with bounties worth HK$1 million offered for information leading to their arrests.
(From left to right, top to bottom) Tony Chung, Carmen Lau, Chung Kim-wah, Chloe Cheung, Joseph Tay and Victor Ho. Photo: HKFP collage.
The six stand accused of committing national security offences including inciting secession and collusion with foreign forces. Including them, there are now 19 people overseas wanted by Hong Kong police on suspicion of committing national security offences.
Andrew Kan, deputy police commissioner for national security, said on Tuesday that authorities will freeze the bank accounts of the six newly wanted individuals, as he urged residents not to engage in any financial transaction with them.
HKFP examines who the self-exiled activists are, and what they are wanted for.
Tony Chung
On social media, activist Tony Chung said it was an “honour” to become the first Hongkonger to be charged as the arrest warrants were announced on Tuesday — a development he said came as “no surprise.”
Activist Tony Chung arrives in the UK in December, 2023. Photo: Tony Chung, via Facebook.
He said he expected the warrants and bounties after the Hong Kong authorities issued an order to recall him to prison, after he announced he had left the city to seek asylum abroad.
The 23-year-old independence activist finished his jail term last June over a national security offence but was subject to a post-prison supervision order which the Correctional Services Department said he had “openly breached”.
Chung – the ex-convener of now-disbanded pro-independence group Studentlocalism – was arrested under the national security law in late July 2020, around a month after Beijing imposed the legislation on Hong Kong.
He was sentenced to three years and seven months in jail after pleading guilty to inciting secession and money laundering. His was the first arrest under the controversial legislation.
Deputy Commissioner of Correctional Services Leung Kin-ip said Chung was not barred from leaving Hong Kong, only that he had to inform supervision officers where he was going and what dates he would be away.
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day, as marked in Tsim Sha Tsui on July 1, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
The CSD also said last December it was working with other law enforcement agencies to issue an arrest warrant.
Since his departure, Chung has led protests in London, including ones opposing the passing of Hong Kong’s domestic national security law, and calling for the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in London to be shut down.
Describing himself as a staunch advocate for “Hong Kong nationalism,” Chung said he would continue to promote “self-determination” for Hong Kong residents.
Carmen Lau
Carmen Lau, 29, a former district councillor and now an activist with the US-based NGO Hong Kong Democracy Council, was charged with incitement to secession and collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.
Activist Carmen Lau. File photo: Carmen Lau, via Facebook.
In addition to inciting secession, Lau had allegedly lobbied foreign governments to revoke diplomatic privileges enjoyed by Hong Kong’s overseas economic and trade offices.
Lau was among those who won seats in Hong Kong’s District Councils in 2019. The pro-democracy camp saw a landslide victory in that year’s polls following widespread, sometimes violent protests and unrest.
In May 2021, she resigned from the Wong Tai Sin council and the now-disbanded Civic Party ahead of the passing of an oath-taking requirement bill, saying she refused to become a “pawn of tyranny” under oath. The district-level polls have since been overhauled to ensure only “patriots” are elected.
The number of seats chosen democratically by the public was slashed to around 20 per cent, with the rest chosen by the city’s leader and government-appointed committees.
Shortly after the warrants were announced, Lau called for sanctions against those who violated human rights in Hong Kong, and called for the closure of London’s HKETO in a post on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.
The District Council elections in 2019. File Photo: May James/HKFP.
She added that campaigning for democracy in Hong Kong was a lifelong obligation, and that she would not back down from activism because of the arrest warrant.
Chloe Cheung
At 19 years old, Chloe Cheung is the youngest of the activists who have had arrest warrants issued against them.
Cheung is charged with incitement to secession by publishing articles as a member of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation (CFHK). She is also accused of colluding with foreign forces for asking foreign countries to issue warnings about the growing risks of conducting business in the city.
Chloe Cheung. Photo: Chloe Cheung via X.
Cheung moved to the UK at the age of 15 in August 2020, after Beijing passed the security law, then became an activist at the CFHK after graduating from high school.
In a statement, Cheung called the Hong Kong government’s move an instance of “transnational repression” directed at critics of the Hong Kong and Beijing authorities. She also called on the British government to take “real action” to protect Hongkongers in the UK.
Chung Kim-wah
Chung Kim-wah, 64, was formerly a pollster at the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI). Then-deputy chief executive officer, Chung in April 2022 left Hong Kong for the UK, and said that the city had become a place where one could “no longer live normally and without intimidation.”
The ex-pollster is accused of inciting secession and lobbying foreign governments for Hong Kong’s overseas trade offices to be shut down.
Chung said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that he found it absurd that he had been accused of advocating for Hong Kong independence, adding that he always considered himself a patriot.
Following his departure in 2022, Chung revealed to Ming Pao that he was approached by the police force’s national security department that March over a public opinion poll about the Russia-Ukraine war. But he said his decision to leave was made as early as February, before his meeting with the police.
Chung Kim-wah. File photo: Supplied.
Amid attacks by state media, PORI last year said it would no longer publish results of surveys on several topics and cancelled questions included those asking respondents to compare the current human rights situation in China to that in 1989.
PORI also cancelled the public release of a survey on Hongkongers’ views of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, citing “suggestions” made by “relevant government department(s).”
In December 2022, the People’s Daily – the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper – accused PORI of using a public opinion poll about the “patriots only” Legislative Council elections to “hijack society.”
Last March, former chief executive Leung Chun-ying dropped a defamation suit against Chung, whom he accused of making unfounded allegations against the former leader in an op-ed published in now-shuttered news outlet Stand News.
The case was suspended indefinitely after the Chung issued a clarification, withdrew the article, and paid a HK$100,000 settlement.
Joseph Tay
Ex-TVB actor Joseph Tay, 62, co-founded the Canada-based NGO HongKonger Station. He is accused of using to publish content inciting secession and to urge foreign governments to impose sanctions on Beijing and Hong Kong authorities.
Joe Tay. Photo: Joe Tay via Instagram.
Hong Kong’s move highlighted the need for the Canadian government to step up efforts to allow Hongkongers to become Canadian citizens, Tay said in an Instagram post on Thursday. He said the warrant for his arrest seemed “trivial” compared to other more pressing challenges faced both in Canada and abroad.
The former actor this January announced he was running for parliament in Unionville, Markham, for the Conservative Party of Canada.
The actor was denied a contract renewal with broadcaster TVB in September 2019. He said in a Facebook post that he “hoped it was not the case” that he was denied the contract because of his participation in protests.
Local media reported that Tay participated in a demonstration after the July 2019 Yuen Long mob attack. He once posted a photo with the “#Eye4HK” hashtag on Instagram — a campaign in support of a woman who was shot in the eye with a bean bag round during a protest in August 2019.
Victor Ho
Canadian citizen and journalist Victor Ho, 69, is accused of subversion under the national security law for establishing the “Hong Kong Parliament” in exile, “with a view to achieving “self-determination” and subverting the State power.”
Victor Ho. Photo: Victor Ho via Facebook.
He is accused of attempting to overthrow the political system in Hong Kong through the overseas “parliament” plan.
In a Facebook post Wednesday, Ho said that he, as a Canadian citizen, was protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, adding that it was the Hong Kong authorities interfering in Canada’s affairs.
Ho was formerly editor-in-chief of the Vancouver edition of Sing Tao Daily. He was among those who launched a committee to establish the parliament in exile, including businessman and commentator Elmer Yuen, who is also wanted by the Hong Kong authorities with a bounty on his head.
The Security Bureau in August 2022 issued a condemnation of the self-styled parliament and its members, including Ho, Yuen, and ex-lawmaker Baggio Leung, who were accused of subversion under the national security law.
It said the police will leverage the extraterritorial reach of the security legislation and “spare no efforts in pursuing the cases in accordance with the law in order to bring the offenders to justice.”
