Hong Kong dissidents in UK ‘fear for their safety’
Hong Kong dissidents in the UK fear “talking to the wrong people”, they have told The Telegraph, after three people were charged on Monday with spying.
Chi Leung Wai, a 38-year-old Border Force officer, Matthew Trickett, a 37-year-old Home Office immigration enforcement officer, and Chung Biu Yuen, 63, a retired Hong Kong police officer who is employed as a London-based trade official for the former British colony, are all accused of spying on pro-democracy activists living in the UK on behalf of Hong Kong.
The trio appeared at Westminster magistrates’ court and were released on bail.
Zheng Zeguang, China’s ambassador to the UK, was summoned by the Foreign Office, where officials condemned a “recent pattern of behaviour” by China, including cyber attacks.
China has refuted the spying claims, with its embassy releasing a statement to “condemn the UK’s unwarranted accusation against the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government”.
However, Hong Kong dissidents said the news was “not surprising at all” in light of what they see as ongoing transnational repression.
They say they are “worried about their safety and security here in the UK”.
Chung Ching Kwong, 27, a dissident living in the UK is a senior analyst at the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), said that “as a Hongkonger, I’m quite worried”.
She added: “I think for many Hong Kong people who are living in the UK, they’re like, ‘Oh, am I talking to the wrong people now?’ ‘Should I be more careful when I attend protests?’ ‘Should I just wear a mask to cover my face?’ ‘Should I not talk about politics with other people if I still want to visit the city?’”
Peiqing Ni, 25, who is originally from Shanghai, is founder of China Deviants, a collective of mainland Chinese international student activists and is also executive director of the China Dissent Network which aims to provide a safe space for Chinese citizens overseas.
She said: “[China’s] infiltration towards democratic countries is quite big. It’s really a compromise. It poses a threat to civil society spaces in democratic countries.”
She added: “It’s not usually the people that get repressed who are the most afraid, because usually they’re aiming to be public or not anonymous.
“It’s the people who see the other person get repressed who get most afraid.
“So the fear is mostly by the people who observe that phenomena and to feel like, ‘Oh, if I do something similar, this could have been me’ and [the repression aims] to kind of cast a disassociation among individuals.”
Victina Tse, 35, who organises pro-democracy protests in Reading, has been in the UK for three years and was previously living in Hong Kong, added: “We know that transnational repression has always been happening. We heard a lot of stories about it. People experience things.
“I think generally Hong Kong people in the UK are always worried about their safety and security here in the UK… And I think … that such worry is not totally without grounds.”
The three men charged by UK authorities were detained following an investigation by counter-terrorism police in which 11 people were arrested under the National Security Act, which was introduced last year to tackle the threat to the UK posed by hostile states.
It is understood that the Home Office has ordered a review of Border Force and Immigration Enforcement recruitment, vetting and supervision procedures in the wake of the police investigation.
