Prologue Journal

Explainer: Banned from Hong Kong – a brief history of entry denials at the city’s borders

• prologu5
• 09/18/202409/18/2024

Hong Kong Free Press

For decades, free-wheeling Hong Kong was reputed as an open Asian economic base, travel hub and place to do business, with a liberal border regime. But, in recent years, the city has taken a stricter, or more discretionary, approach to who it is allowing in – particularly when it comes to political figures.

Earlier this month, it appeared to demonstrate a more rigorous immigration policy than mainland China when it turned away a German activist who had arrived after freely travelling around Sichuan and Beijing.

As has become typical, the activist – an award-winning journalist and University of Hong Kong graduate – was not given a reason for his denial of entry. David Missal was not the first such person to be turned away at the border. In the future, would-be visitors may find themselves unable even to board a flight to the city.

On September 4, Hong Kong’s Immigration Department announced the implementation of a new Advanced Passenger Information system “to prevent undesirables, including potential non-refoulement claimants, from boarding flights heading to Hong Kong.”

Under the new system, all aircraft operators must transfer data about flights and passengers heading to Hong Kong to the Immigration Department in advance. It comes three years after related changes to the city’s immigration laws sparked fears of entry and exit bans, and it follows the enactment of two security laws – in 2020 and 2024.

Regardless of the political situation, the city is no stranger to turning people away at land, sea or air crossings. As in many jurisdictions, most entry denials are for mundane reasons and a matter of bureaucratic routine.

In response to a 2020 legislative question, the Immigration Department said that individuals refused entry are sometimes those without a valid travel document or visa, or those bearing a forged one.

Other entry denials are classified as “doubtful purpose of entry,” such as “suspected parallel traders, Mainland pregnant women who have not made a booking for delivery, persons suspected of coming to Hong Kong for illegal employment, persons suspected to overstay after coming to Hong Kong, etc…”

Year	Doubtful purpose of visit	Improper doc, or no valid visa / endorsement	Forged travel doc.	Total
2014	37,716	4,278	183	42,177
2015	52,224	4,487	144	56,855
2016	48,927	4,476	96	53,499
2017	43,613	5,338	82	49,033
2018	46,023	8,075	97	54,195
2019	50,168	7,297	118	57,583
2020 (Covid restric.)	8,662	696	29	9,387
2021 (Covid restric.)	1,018	164	5	1,187
2022 (Covid restric.)	2,245	114	14	2,373
2023 (Covid restric.)	19,475	3,657	39	23,171

Visitor arrivals by month – click to view.

But cases of entry denials involving activists or journalists have hit the headlines more often since the enactment of the security laws. Since the authorities do not publicise such incidents and have never confirmed whether they maintain a “blacklist,” entry denials usually only come to light if the traveller chooses to go public.

When incidents are reported, the Immigration Department consistently refuses to comment on individual cases. Yet it has – on at least one recent occasion – openly hit out over a false claim of a visa denial by a member of the UK band Blur.

HKFP rounds up known, prominent cases of entry refusals at local border crossings, and examines what may have led to them being turned away.

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2008: Artist Jens Galschiøt 

In 2008, artist Jens Galschiøt was denied entry to Hong Kong. At the time, the Danish sculptor – behind the Pillar of Shame memorial for victims of the Tiananmen crackdown – was leading a campaign for Tibetan rights in the lead-up to China’s hosting of the Olympics. He had intended to help paint his monument, at the time displayed at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), an orange colour.

Galschiøt – who was also involved in the 2005 World Trade Organization protests in Hong Kong – successfully entered in 2013 but was denied entry again in 2019. Last year, with the Pillar of Shame removed from HKUs campus, he said it would probably be “too dangerous” for him to attempt to visit Hong Kong again.

2008: PEN Center’s Zhang Yu

Distinguished Chinese journalist and Secretary-General of the Independent Chinese PEN Center Zhang Yu was turned away at the border in 2008. He had been invited to chair a session at a World Press Freedom Day Conference but was forced to return to Sweden, without explanation.

At the time the journalist, who had previously been denied entry to China, said: “This is an obvious indication that the negative impact of the Beijing Olympics on Chinese citizens’ rights is increasing as the Games draw near, expanding beyond mainland China at least to Hong Kong.” His denied entry was condemned by PEN and other press freedom bodies.

2017: Rights activist Benedict Rogers

In 2017, UK activist Benedict Rogers was refused entry. A prominent critic of Hong Kong’s human rights record and co-founder of the Conservative Party’s Human Rights Commission, the move prompted the British government to demand answers from the Chinese authorities.

In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said: “It is China’s sovereign right whether or not to prevent someone from entering… China has already summoned officials from the British Embassy in Beijing, and lodged stern representations about Britain’s recent series of wrong remarks and actions on this issue.”

Soon after his entry denial, Rogers went on to launch NGO Hong Kong Watch. He has since been warned that he faces charges of “collusion with foreign forces” under the Beijing-imposed security law if he ever returns to the city.

2017: Activists Chiang Meng-hin & Chiang Sing

The Immigration Department blocked New Macau Association activists from entering Hong Kong in 2017, just as Chinese leader Xi Jinping was set to visit the city.

Chairperson Chiang Meng-hin was denied entry after taking a ferry to Hong Kong in order to seek treatment at a clinic, the party said. He was required to purchase his own ticket back to Macau. Later that day, Chiang Sing – a director of the same party – was travelling through Hong Kong to reportedly attend to personal affairs in mainland China. He was also refused entry.

“We believe the incident is related to oversensitive precautions in preparation for the visit of Beijing leaders to Hong Kong,” the party said at the time.

2017: Writer Chang Tieh-chih

Taiwanese political and cultural commentator Chang Tieh-chih has said he was denied entry to Hong Kong after arriving at the airport to attend a conference in 2018. The former editor-in-chief of prominent Hong Kong lifestyle publication City Magazine, Chang previously lived in the city but had moved back to Taiwan two years before he tried to re-enter. His wife, a Hongkonger, passed through Immigration without him.

Chang said in a social media post that he had a Hong Kong resident identity card, but border officials told him it was expired when he produced it. He then tried to apply for a visa online at the airport, but it was rejected.

A columnist with a range of publications in Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China, Chang has been vocal in supporting democracy and social movements on both sides of the strait.

2018: Financial Times journalist Victor Mallet

The Financial Times said in 2018 that its Asia news editor, Victor Mallet, had been barred from entering Hong Kong, weeks after HKFP revealed that the government had refused to renew his work visa. Mallet, a British national, was also the vice-president of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong. He chaired a talk by pro-independence activist Andy Chan at the club that August, despite efforts by Chinese officials to block the event. 

According to a Financial Times report, Mallet “attempted to enter Hong Kong on Thursday as a visitor but was turned away at the border after several hours of questioning by immigration officers.”

According to a source, Mallet planned to come to Hong Kong to hand over his duties as the FT’s Asia news editor. Chan’s party was later banned.

2019: Academic Dan Garrett

US academic Dan Garrett was barred from entering Hong Kong amid protests in the city in 2019, a week after he testified at the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China in Washington DC about the ongoing protests in the city.

The author, photographer and political scientist said he was denied entry ahead of the upcoming Umbrella Movement anniversary and National Day holiday, for unspecified “immigration reasons.”

He told HKFP at the time that he was visiting to work on a book project and add to several ongoing documentary projects: “It’s always been a risk. Now it’s a reality. I was planning on visiting with friends, talk to some academic colleagues, some shopping, photographing and observing key anniversaries and the changing visual culture of the city and its protest culture.”

2020: Human Rights Watch’s Ken Roth

In 2020,  then-head of Human Rights Watch Ken Roth was barred from entering the city, where he had planned to launch the NGO’s Annual Report.

He had entered the city freely before, and said in a video it was the first time he had been denied entry: “Despite my probing, the Hong Kong immigration authorities would say only (and repeatedly) that they were barring me for ‘immigration reasons.’ They wouldn’t even own up to the real reason.”

“I had hoped to spotlight Beijing’s deepening assault on international efforts to uphold human rights,” Roth said in a statement published later. “The refusal to let me enter Hong Kong vividly illustrates the problem.” The Hong Kong event at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club was cancelled, and the NGO was later sanctioned by Beijing.

2022: Photographer Michiko Kiseki

Hong Kong’s Immigration Department barred freelance photographer Michiko Kiseki from the city in 2022, according to Japanese newspaper Nikkei. The award-winning photographer captured the 2019 pro-democracy protests and unrest, later hosting an exhibition in Japan of her shots.

She said on Twitter that immigration authorities grilled her on the exhibition, which was held in February 202, before she was denied entry to the city.

2023: Journalist Yoshiaki Ogawa

A Japanese journalist known for his coverage of Hong Kong’s protests was barred from entering the city days before the 26th anniversary of its Handover to China, according to various Japanese news outlets in 2023.

Yoshiaki Ogawa, the 54-year-old author of the book Chronicles of Hong Kong’s Protests, was taken to a room and interviewed by immigration officers for around an hour, before being asked to sign a document acknowledging the refusal of his entry into Hong Kong, according to The Japan Times and The Asahi Shimbun.

2023: Street performer Mr Wally

Japanese street performer Mr Wally told his Twitter followers in 2023 that Hong Kong had denied him entry, despite performing in the city regularly between 2015 and 2020. He wrote that it was his first visit for three years, but he faced a two-hour interrogation about his previous activities in the city.

Mr Wally said he suspected that visitors with pro-democracy views, or supporters of the 2019 protests, were likely to face bans. He later added that officials told him he was turned away because he had “previously performed on the streets of Hong Kong.”

2023: Photojournalist Matthew Connors

A US photography professor who covered the 2019 protests and unrest said he was denied entry to the city in 2023. Matthew Connors told HKFP that he arrived from Bangkok and told immigration officers that he was a professor and artist who was visiting for the sole purpose of tourism.

“I suspect my name is on a list of people who are not permitted to enter Hong Kong, perhaps permanently,” he told HKFP after officials turned him away. He said the city’s unwillingness to admit potential critics was a “real sign of fragility… From the outside it certainly feels like Hong Kong has become a frontier of a new Cold War.”

2024: Activist Uryu Hirano

Japanese activist Uryu Hirano was reportedly barred in 2024. She told her Twitter following that she last visited in 2020 and was sad and angry about the current political situation in the city. She added that she did not regret becoming an activist.

2024: RSF’s Aleksandra Bielakowska

Advocacy Officer Aleksandra Bielakowska from free expression NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) was told to return to Taiwan when she tried to enter Hong Kong in 2024. She was detained, searched and questioned for six hours at the airport.

Bielakowska was set to link up with Asia-Pacific Bureau Director Cédric Alviani to meet journalists and monitor a hearing of the national security trial involving media tycoon Jimmy Lai.

“This action by the Hong Kong authorities, unprecedented for RSF, marks a new decline in the already poor press freedom climate in the territory,” the NGO said in a statement following the incident.

2024: Activist-journalist David Missal

Award-winning German journalist, activist and HKU graduate David Missal was barred from entering the city in 2024. Missal works with the Tibet Initiative Deutschland, which advocates for self-determination in the Chinese region, and co-founded Freiheit für Hongkong, an NGO that works towards a democratic, free Hong Kong.

Missal had landed at Hong Kong International Airport on a China Southern Airlines flight from Beijing, according to a refusal notice he shared online. He said he had entered mainland China under its visa-free policy.

When asked by HKFP why he thought he had been barred, he said: “Honestly, I am not sure whether it was my past activism on Hong Kong in Germany, having been expelled from China or my current job.”

“I feel so sad that I cannot go to such a beautiful city as Hong Kong anymore. I hope Hong Kong will be free – one day,” he added.

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