A Hong Kong activist who has sought refuge in the United States since 2020 condemned on Friday the announcement by authorities in that Chinese territory of offering rewards for her arrest and those of four other dissidents as an attempt at intimidation.
Hong Kong authorities “deliberately used an extremely public means to offer rewards for arresting activists abroad,” Frances Hui told the Hudson Institute think tank in Washington.
“They wanted to create a deterrent effect [les dissidents] and isolate ourselves,” she added.
Hong Kong police on Thursday offered rewards worth 1 million Hong Kong dollars (about 171,000 U.S. dollars) for information leading to the arrest of five overseas activists and accusing them of crimes against national security.
London called these prices “a threat to our democracy and our fundamental human rights,” while Washington condemned “a blatant disregard” for international standards and stressed that “Hong Kong authorities have no authority to act within the borders of the United States.”
In a new statement Friday evening, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States “strongly rejects any attempt to intimidate and silence individuals who have chosen to reside in the United States.”
With this announcement, “the Hong Kong authorities demonstrate their disregard for international standards and human rights in Hong Kong and the erosion of the tradition of respect for the rule of law of which this city was so proud,” said the US Secretary of State.
Call for sanctions
Frances Hui said Friday that she was grieving for her grandmother, but that the pain of that loss was compounded by the fact that she was unable to attend the funeral because of those awards.
“It is one of the things that many of us in exile have to accept and deal with; namely, not being able to spend time and be there for the people who are important in our lives,” said the activist, his voice shaking.
Still, she vowed to continue her campaign for sanctions against senior Hong Kong and Chinese officials.
“I call on the international community, and in particular the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia – where the bounty hunters live – to combat cross-border repression, interference and violations of human rights standards by the Chinese Communist Party,” said Frances Hui.
The five pro-democracy activists have been living abroad since Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, cracking down on dissidents following massive pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Ahead of Antony Blinken's press release, China on Friday castigated the “malicious intentions” of the US and UK after they condemned the bonuses on offer.
“By encouraging these anti-China opponents who want to sow disorder in Hong Kong, the United States and the United Kingdom are revealing their malicious intentions to sow chaos in Hong Kong,” reacted Mao Ning, a spokesman for China, during a regular news conference Ministry of Foreign Affairs.