Chief Superintendent of Police (National Security) Li Kwai-wah speaks during a press conference to issue arrest warrants for eight activists, in Hong Kong, China July 3, 2023. REUTERS/Joyce Zhou
HONG KONG 鈥� Hong Kong police on Monday accused eight overseas-based activists of serious national security offences including foreign collusion and incitement to secession and offered rewards for information leading to their arrest.
The accused are activists Nathan Law, Anna Kwok and Finn Lau, former lawmakers Dennis Kwok and Ted Hui, lawyer and legal scholar Kevin Yam, unionist Mung Siu-tat, and online commentator Yuan Gong-yi, police told a press conference.
鈥淭hey have encouraged sanctions 鈥� to destroy Hong Kong and to intimidate officials,鈥� Steve Li, an officer with the police鈥檚 national security department, told reporters.
Issuing wanted notices and offering rewards of HK$1 million ($127,656) each, police said the assets of the accused would be frozen where possible and warned the public not to support them financially.
The notices accused the activists of asking foreign powers to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and China.
The activists are based in several countries, including the United States, Britain and Australia. Yam is an Australian citizen. They are wanted under a national security law that Beijing imposed on the former British colony in 2020, after the financial hub was rocked by protracted anti-China protests the previous year.
The United States on Monday condemned the move through a U.S. State Department spokesman, who said it set 鈥渁 dangerous precedent that threatens the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people all over the world.鈥�
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly criticised the decision to issue the arrest warrants and said his government 鈥渨ill not tolerate any attempts by China to intimidate and silence individuals in the UK and overseas鈥�.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said her government was 鈥渄eeply disappointed.鈥� Australia, she said, has consistently expressed concern about the broad application of the national security law.
Some countries, including the United States, say the law has been used to suppress the city鈥檚 pro-democracy movement and has undermined rights and freedoms guaranteed under a 鈥渙ne country, two systems鈥� formula, agreed when Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Chinese and Hong Kong authorities say the law has restored the stability necessary for preserving Hong Kong鈥檚 economic success.
Activists defiant
Several of the accused activists said they would not cease their Hong Kong advocacy work.
鈥淚t鈥檚 my duty 鈥� to continue to speak out against the crackdown that is going on right now, against the tyranny that is now reigning over the city that was once one of the freest in Asia,鈥� Yam, a senior fellow with Georgetown University鈥檚 Center for Asian Law, told Reuters by telephone from Australia.
鈥淚 miss Hong Kong but as things stand, no rational person would be going back,鈥� added Yam, who police accused of meeting foreign officials to instigate sanctions against Hong Kong officials, judges and prosecutors.
Former Democratic party lawmaker Ted Hui told Reuters the 鈥渂ounty鈥� adds to the arrest warrants already issued for him under the national security law, but 鈥渇ree countries will not extradite us鈥�.
鈥淭he bounty 鈥� makes it clearer to the western democracies that China is going towards more extreme authoritarianism,鈥� he said in Australia, where he has lived since 2021 on a bridging visa.
Anna Kwok, executive director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council, told Reuters from Washington she would not back down.
鈥淥ne key thing I urge President Biden to do immediately is to say a strong and firm NO to (Hong Kong chief executive) John Lee鈥檚 possible entry into the United States for November鈥檚 APEC meeting in San Francisco,鈥� Kwok wrote.
鈥淗e鈥檚 the man who has orchestrated the far-reaching transnational repression,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ar John Lee.鈥�
Finn Lau, an activist based in London told Reuters the reward was motivated by the fact that many democratic countries had suspended extradition treaties with Hong Kong.
Nathan Law, who obtained refugee status in the UK two years ago, said that people in Hong Kong should not cooperate. 鈥淲e should not limit ourselves, self-censor, be intimidated, or live in fear,鈥� he said on Twitter.
Police told the press conference 260 people had been arrested under the national security law, with 79 of them convicted of offences including subversion and terrorism, but admitted that the chances of prosecution were slim if the defendants remained abroad.
鈥淲e are definitely not putting on a political show nor disseminating fear,鈥� Li, the police official, said.
鈥淚f they don鈥檛 return, we won鈥檛 be able to arrest them, that鈥檚 a fact,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut we won鈥檛 stop wanting them.