HONG KONG – Hong Kong police accused five overseas activists of violating a tough Beijing-imposed national security law and on Thursday offered rewards of HK$1 million ($128,000) for information leading to their arrest.
The bounties further intensify the Hong Kong government’s crackdown on dissent following anti-government protests in 2019. Many leading pro-democracy activists have been arrested, silenced or forced into self-exile following the introduction of the Security Law in 2020, a drastic erosion of the freedoms promised to the former British colony when it returned to China in 1997.
Both the Beijing and Hong Kong governments have praised the Security Law, saying it has restored stability to the semi-autonomous Chinese city.
Arrest warrants were issued for Johnny Fok and Tony Choi, who run a YouTube channel on current affairs, and pro-democracy activists Simon Cheng, Hui Wing-ting and Joey Siu. Police have refused to say where they are, but their social media profiles and previous media reports suggest they have moved to the United States and Britain.
In July, Hong Kong warned eight other activists now living abroad that they would be followed for the rest of their lives and that bounties would be put on their heads. It was the first such use of bounties under the Security Act, and the authorities’ announcement drew criticism from Western governments.
Steve Li, chief superintendent of the police’s national security department, said the authorities had received about 500 pieces of information about the eight since the bounties were announced. He said some of the information was valuable, but that no arrests had been made.
Li said the five activists newly added to the wanted list had committed various offences, including colluding with foreign forces and inciting secession.
“They all betrayed their own country and betrayed Hong Kong,” he told a news conference. “After fleeing overseas, they continued to engage in activities that endangered national security.”
Li said the authorities would do their best to cut off financial support for the wanted activists.
On Wednesday, police arrested four more people on suspicion of funding former pro-democracy lawmakers Nathan Law and Ted Hui – two of the eight activists targeted by police in July – through an “online subscription and crowdfunding platform”. The four were accused of providing financial support to other separatists. The amounts involved ranged from 10,000 to 120,000 Hong Kong dollars ($1,280 to $15,400).
Cheng wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he accepted the charges. “Being hunted by China’s (Hong Kong’s) secret police under a million dollar bounty is a lifetime honour,” he wrote.
Siu told X that “I will never back down” and would not be silenced. Hui insisted on X that her advocacy for democracy and freedom would not stop.
Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Greater China, said the tactic of placing bounties on activists appeared to be emerging as a preferred method of silencing dissent. Brooks called on the authorities to withdraw them.
“Placing a bounty under the guise of national security charges is an act of intimidation that crosses borders,” she said in a statement.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller condemned the “outrageous actions by Hong Kong authorities in announcing changes to the national security law and a new bounty list targeting overseas democracy advocates”.
“This shows a blatant disregard for international norms of democracy and human rights,” he said. “The Hong Kong authorities have no jurisdiction within the borders of the United States, where democracy and freedom advocates continue to enjoy their constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and rights.”
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he had instructed officials in Hong Kong, Beijing and London to raise the issue urgently with the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities. He also called on Beijing to repeal the Security Law and end its persecution of political activists.
“We will not tolerate any attempt by a foreign power to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities in the UK. This is a threat to our democracy and fundamental human rights,” he said in a statement.