On Christmas Eve, Hong Kong’s national security police announced arrest warrants and bounties of HK$1 million (US$129,000) for information leading to the arrest of six exiled activists. The activists are accused of a range of national security offences, such as subversion, inciting secession, and colluding with foreign forces. These latest measures underscore the government’s expansive efforts at transnational repression against its critics. James Lee at the Hong Kong Free Press provided more detail about the six activists, their backgrounds, and why they were arrested:

[Tony Chung, t]he 23-year-old independence activist [and ex-convener of now-disbanded pro-independence group Studentlocalism] 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”.

[…] 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.

[…] 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.

[…] 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.”

[…] 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.

[…] 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 state power. [Source]

Chloe Cheung noted on X that the photo of her used in the Hong Kong police’s bounty announcement was from when she was 11 years old. Cheung asked, “How fragile, incompetent, and cowardly does a regime have to be to believe that I, a 19-year-old, ordinary Hongkonger, can ‘endanger’ and ‘divide’ the country? How panicked are they that they have to put a million-dollar bounty on me?” Hongkongers made similar points about the government’s fragility last Friday, when over 20 police officers disrupted an independent book fair by stopping and searching almost everyone who left a bookstore, one staffer reported.

Last week, the Hong Kong government also canceled the passports of seven activists who had bounties issued against them in 2023: Ted Hui, Anna Kwok, Elmer Yuen, Dennis Kwok, Kevin Yam, Frances Hui, and Joey Siu. The government did the same in June for six other activists targeted with bounties in 2023: Nathan Law, Christopher Mung, Finn Lau, Simon Cheng, Johnny Fok, and Tony Choi. There are now a total of 19 exiled Hong Kongers with arrest warrants and bounties against them.

Rights defenders blasted the Hong Kong police. “The Hong Kong government’s latest round of arrest warrants and bounties against six Hong Kong activists is a cowardly act of intimidation that aims to silence Hong Kong people,” said Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch. “This is an outrageous escalation in transnational repression against overseas Hong Kongers. […] These absurd, arbitrary charges only serve to further drive home the farce of Hong Kong authorities claiming to follow the rule of law,” said Michael Caster, Head of Global China Programme for Article 19. Hong Kong Watch condemned the government’s measures and highlighted responses from other targeted activists:

Carmen Lau, Senior Advocacy Associate for the Hong Kong Democracy Council who was issued a bounty today, said:

“I have always considered serving Hong Kongers and fighting for our freedom and democracy my lifelong obligation since the day I was elected as a district councillor. Since I fled, I have often regretted not being able to serve my people until the end. Therefore, as a member of the diaspora and as a Hong Konger, I swear to put our fight for Hong Kong before anything else, even before myself.”

Joey Siu, an independent Hong Kong activist who had her passport cancelled today, said:

“On Christmas Eve, Hong Kong authorities announced the cancellation of my HKSAR passport and those of six other exiles, citing the Article 23… I separately hold a U.S. passport, so the impact of this cancellation on me is minimal. However, it is detrimental to many of my fellow exiled advocates from Hong Kong who are not as privileged.

As an American who is continuously targeted by Hong Kong authorities, first under the National Security Law, then ongoing transnational repression, and now with Article 23, I believe that the federal government’s response has been insufficient. Unnamed visa restrictions are not enough. Targeted sanctions under the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 should be imposed immediately.”

[…] Megan Khoo, Policy Director of Hong Kong Watch, said:

“Hong Kong Watch unequivocally condemns the issuance of bounties and cancellation of passports targeting our friends and colleagues in exile. These acts are clear attempts of transnational repression, designed to silence dissent and extend the reach of authoritarian control beyond Hong Kong’s borders. We must not allow them to succeed.” [Source]

Separately, on December 22, the Chinese government sanctioned the Canada-based Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project and the Canada-Tibet Committee, along with 15 members of the former and five members of the latter. The sanctions include asset freezes and entry bans. The move follows sanctions by the Canadian government against eight former and current senior Chinese officials for their roles in human rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet. Among these officials are Chen Quanguo, the former CCP chief of Xinjiang, and Wu Yingjie, former party head of Tibet. Alan Lu from RFA shared reactions from some of the sanctioned activists who stated that the measures only further motivate them and highlight the impact of their work:

Sherap Therchin, executive director of the Canada Tibet Committee, a Montreal-based advocacy group that promotes human rights and democratic freedoms of the Tibetan people, said that the sanctioning of the group and five of its members was an acknowledgment of their work for Tibet.

“This move actually strengthens our resolve to keep on this path and continue to advocate for policies that bring about a just and equitable solution to the harsh occupation and repression now ongoing in Tibet,” he told Radio Free Asia.

[…] Shane Yi, a researcher with the nongovernmental organization Chinese Human Rights Defenders, said China’s sanctions against the Canadian groups suggested they were having some impact.

“This not only underscores China’s intent to escalate its suppression efforts but also demonstrates the growing impact of these organizations’ work,” Yi said. [Source]