Overseas Hong Kong pro-democracy activists tell VOA they will not be swayed by a fresh round of bounties issued by authorities for information leading to their arrest over alleged violations of the Chinese territory’s National Security Law.
In interviews with VOA's Cantonese Service, one of the activists named in Thursday's announcement called the bounties "absurd," while another called the issuing of arrest warrants for more dissidents nothing more than a "publicity stunt."
On Thursday, the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force issued a bounty of 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($128,200) each for the arrest of five activists, the latest to be added to the authorities’ bounty list. All five have left Hong Kong and now live overseas. One is a U.S. citizen.
Those named are Simon Cheng Man-kit, Frances Hui Wing-ting, Joey Siu Nam, Johnny Fok Ka-chi and Tony Choi Ming-da.
According to Hong Kong authorities, 24-year-old Hui is suspected of "colluding with foreign countries or forces to endanger national security." She is currently the director of the advocacy group We The Hong Kongers in the U.S.
Hui went into exile to the U.S. in 2020, and received political asylum in 2022, becoming the first Hong Kong person to be granted political asylum by the U.S. federal government.
In a video interview with VOA Cantonese, Hui said she was not particularly surprised when the news of her arrest warrant came out, because she prepared herself for such possibilities when announcing her exile in 2020. Hui said, "These things will happen, sooner or later," if one continues to advocate for Hong Kong's human rights.
Although the National Security Department did not explicitly state which of her actions were illegal, Hui believes that it has a lot to do with the Hong Kong Sanctions Act — a U.S. bill calling for sanctions against Hong Kong officials, including judges and prosecutors. Hui had a role in promoting the bill, and she described the Hong Kong government as "seemingly offended."
"It has always seemed to be a sore point for the Hong Kong government to have their officials, especially the judiciary, sanctioned. They are very sensitive to this. In fact, most of the people in the last round of the wanted list had openly pushed for foreign sanctions," Hui said.
In November, five members of the United States Congress introduced the Hong Kong Sanctions Act to the House of Representatives and the Senate, listing 49 Hong Kong officials, judges and prosecutors, most of whom had tried or participated in Hong Kong National Security Law cases.
The Hong Kong Sanctions Act requires the U.S. president to determine whether certain Hong Kong officials violated human rights and whether sanctions should be imposed in accordance with the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 or the Hong Kong Autonomy Act.
Hui said the Hong Kong National Security Bureau’s press conference was clearly "a political message" meant to intimidate her.
She told VOA Cantonese, "For me, the 1 million bounty, the arrest warrant and the transnational crackdown, they all are just a publicity stunt."
In July, the National Security Department issued the same bounty for eight people. At that time, Steve Li Kwai-wah, the superintendent of Hong Kong's National Security Department, said the bounty was not a stunt but law enforcement.
Hui said she would continue her advocacy work for Hong Kong, including pressing for the sanctioning of Hong Kong officials, as well as building overseas Hong Kong communities and promoting Hong Kong's local culture.
Joey Siu Nam, also 24 years old, is another of the five wanted people and an American citizen. This is the first time that a U.S. citizen is wanted by the Hong Kong government for allegedly violating the Hong Kong National Security Law.
Siu is a former spokesperson for the Hong Kong activist group HKIAD, which lobbied foreign countries for sanctions against Hong Kong.
In a post on her Instagram account, Siu said calling for the arrest of U.S. citizens proves that Hong Kong is no longer an international financial center with an independent judicial system and rule of law.
"My response to the Chinese Communist regime’s intimidation is short: I will never be silenced, I will never back down," she wrote.
'A lifelong honor'
Another wanted expatriate is 33-year-old Simon Cheng Man-kit, a former employee of the British Consulate General in Hong Kong. Cheng left Hong Kong to settle in the United Kingdom in 2019.
According to the Hong Kong National Security Department, Cheng, together with others, set up political organizations, such as the Association of Hong Kongers in Britain and the Hong Kong Shadow Parliament, repeatedly advocated for the independence of Hong Kong on social media platforms, and proposed to foreign countries to sanction Hong Kong officials and judicial personnel.
Cheng responded on the social networking platform X, formerly Twitter, saying that "being hunted by China (Hong Kong)'s secret police, under a one-million-dollar bounty, is a lifelong honor."
In a phone interview with VOA Cantonese on Thursday evening, Cheng said: "I wasn’t surprised at all when I heard the news. I even thought it was a bit too late. I see the absurdity of this regime and the political police, so I do not expect much from them.
"Three or four years ago, we criticized the regime with a very humble manner. It's our duty to make this society better. If that's a crime, I have nothing else to say," he added.
The Hong Kong government issued an arrest warrant for Cheng in 2020. As for why a bounty is now put on him, Cheng told VOA Cantonese that he thinks the Chinese Communist Party is very mindful of the fact that overseas Hong Kongers and other Chinese people have established independent organizations not subject to China’s influence.
"What we have done is for the interest of the people. Our humble wish is to make this society more democratic, free and open," Cheng said.
