HKFP Yum Cha: Democrat Emily Lau recalls early morning visit from Hong Kong national security police
Hong Kong Free Press
Police officers from Hong Kong’s National Security Department visited democracy and rights advocate Emily Lau at her home in August 2021 to request information about the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group (CHRLCG), which was later dissolved.
The 71-year-old former journalist and lawmaker spoke about hearing the doorbell ring early one morning and knowing immediately who was at the door in the first episode of HKFP’s new podcast, Yum Cha.
“I live alone… they came at 7am – ding dong – I knew it would be them,” Lau said.
The officers told her that they were not there to make an arrest, saying instead that they were there to give her something – a letter.
Lau said the visit came on the same day that national security police also visited the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the defunct group behind the city’s once-annual vigils for the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.
“They visited all the directors that morning… they alleged we are foreign agents and they wanted information about the organisation, about the directors, the staff and everything – so they visited me,” Lau said.
In an emailed, Chinese-language response to HKFP, police said that its National Security Department had requested “certain persons to provide information in accordance with the procedures and methods specified in Schedule 5 of the Implementation Rules under Article 43 of the Hong Kong National Security Law” on August 25, 2021.
Because that request was related to efforts to safeguard national security, the police spokesperson said further details could not be provided.
At the time, Lau was on the CHRLCG’s board of directors. They made the decision soon afterwards to shut down.
“In the end, we decided to dissolve,” Lau said. “If we know that is something they cannot accept, tolerate, it doesn’t mean that if we dissolve, we will be safe, no, but at least we took that step.”
Founded in 2007 by veteran democrat and human rights lawyer Albert Ho, who is currently behind bars facing a national security charge of “incitement to subversion,” the CHRLCG advocated for the protection of human rights and the development of the rule of law on mainland China. Human rights lawyers in mainland China have reportedly faced arbitrary detention, torture, and enforced disappearances.
Three former members of the Alliance – Chow Hang-tung, Tang Ngok-kwan, and Tsui Hon-kwong – were jailed for four and a half months in March over failing to adhere to a request for information from national security police.
Lau also discussed challenging late UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher on the Sino-British Joint Declaration soon after it was signed in 1984, and how that encounter propelled the then-journalist into politics, and why young Hongkongers should be grateful for the work she and her peers did while part of the legislature.
HKFP Yum Cha
The second episode of HKFP Yum Cha will be released on Sunday, with new episodes to follow on Saturdays. The first season will feature a diverse range of voices, from artists to scientists, who share their perspective on Hong Kong as it is today through the lens of their industry.
We will explore how early Hong Kong was shaped not only by the Chinese and the British, but by immigrants from across Asia and their interracial offspring, and how those influences can still be felt. And we will learn how the city’s position as a wildlife trade hub has shaped its biodiversity in one particularly unexpected way.
Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
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