In 2021, artists Lumli and Lumlong fled Hong Kong without telling anyone for fear of being reported and arrested. But even in London, like many other exiles from Hong Kong in Great Britain, the couple feels threatened by Beijing.
• Also read: When South Koreans look younger overnight
• Also read: Wagner Rebellion: According to Russian diplomacy, Beijing expresses its “support” for Moscow
• Also read: Chinese millionaire fails college entrance exam for 27th time
Since the beginning of 2021, London has issued 166,000 visas to residents of its former colony. A direct response to the suppression of the pro-democracy movement and the draconian Internal Security Law on Chinese territory.
This new visa allows them to live and work in the UK for five years and then apply for British citizenship. It is reserved for holders of a British overseas passport issued to Hong Kongers born before the colony’s handover to China on 1 July 1997.
Lumli and Lumlong, a 43-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man, call each other by their stage names. Her small London flat keeps her paintings depicting the violence endured by protesters in Hong Kong.
Photo: AFP
After an exhibition in Hong Kong in May 2021, “we were accused by the Chinese Communist Party of violating national security laws.” (…) The police came to our studio to scare us,” says Lumlong. His wife adds: “Sooner or later we would be arrested.”
The two artists received their visas within two weeks and first informed their relatives in London. “But we’re not entirely sure here either,” says Lumlong. “There are so many informants.”
The British government also ordered in early June that China should shut down allegedly secret “police stations” on its soil.
Beijing denied running “so-called overseas police stations,” which were simply centers providing administrative services.
The NGO Safeguard Defenders accuses these open centers around the world of being used to track down adversaries.
violence in the consulate
The couple say journalists who work for propaganda media came incognito to one of their exhibitions in London last year. Lumli and Lumlong report that they were later accused in these media of allying with “foreign forces”.
“A few days later, our accounts on Instagram and Facebook were hacked. We lost our contacts,” says Lumli. “Our photo has been replaced with the flag of the Islamic State group and the name of the account has been changed,” Lumlong said.
“Unless the British government stands firm against the Chinese Communist Party, we will never be safe,” he said.
Hong Kong residents were shocked by violence at the Chinese consulate in Manchester (North) in October. Videos show people coming out of the consulate to destroy protesters’ banners and a pro-democracy Hong Kong activist being beaten at the diplomatic compound after being forcibly dragged there. The Consul General himself was involved.
The United Kingdom then tersely asked Beijing to demonstrate on British soil. China has accused “troublemakers” who “illegally” entered the consulate.
nightmares
“Our community is subject to cross-border repression,” accuses Simon Cheng, founder of the organization Hongkongers in Great Britain.
This former British Consulate employee in Hong Kong says he was detained and tortured by Chinese police for 15 days in August 2019. He was subsequently granted asylum in the UK.
He says he sometimes feels like he’s being followed, that he’s being listened to. He fears Chinese police will “find a way to catch him and send him back to Hong Kong or China.” He has nightmares.
Another man interviewed by AFP, on the other hand, recounts the calm of his new life with a wife and child in a small English town, where they settled in July 2020.
“We left because of our child because democracy in Hong Kong has declined,” he says. He found a job pretty quickly. His son plays football and has many friends.
“No Regrets” to have left, miss these forty-somethings who took part in the 2019 demonstrations.
He feels safe. “What happens in London or Manchester could not happen here. And I don’t think there are many Mainland Chinese there.”
He has given personal interviews in the past but prefers not to be named. “The situation in Hong Kong wasn’t that bad back then. It has gotten much worse in three years.
The Chinese embassy in the UK said the allegations made by those interviewed by AFP had “no factual basis”.
“China respects the judicial sovereignty of other countries and never interferes in their internal affairs,” she added.