One of the youngest people to be jailed under Hong Kong’s national security law has fled to the UK, where he claimed asylum in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Tony Chung, 22, was released from prison in June but was required to meet regularly with Hong Kong’s national security police and abide by certain conditions, which included not leaving the territory without authorisation before June 2024.
In December, he got permission from the Hong Kong’s correctional services department to take a short holiday to Okinawa, Japan, for Christmas, on the condition that he had booked a flight back to Hong Kong. He flew to Japan on 20 December; one week later he boarded a flight to London.
Chung is a well-known pro-democracy activist who was the founder of the group Studentlocalism, which was disbanded hours before the introduction of the national security law on 30 June 2020. He was one of the first people to be arrested under the law, which Beijing introduced after months of pro-democracy protests, quelling the movement. The Chinese authorities said the law was necessary to restore stability to Hong Kong.
The “deep surveillance and immense pressure” he experienced after being released from prison “disturbed my life, and I couldn’t withstand such torture, both physically and mentally. So I felt that I had to leave Hong Kong,” Chung told the Guardian, hours after arriving in the UK.
On Friday, the Hong Kong correctional services department said it had issued a recall order for Chung and would be adding him to a wanted list. The Hong Kong authorities have issued bounties for 13 exiled activists this year, offering HK$1m (£100,000) for information leading to their capture.
Chung said he was offered money to spy on fellow activists and restricted from working in Hong Kong, making him economically vulnerable.
Chung arrived in the UK less than one month after a fellow pro-democracy activist, Agnes Chow, revealed she had moved to Canada and had no intention of returning to Hong Kong. She had also obtained special permission to leave Hong Kong but decided that she would be safer in exile.
On Friday, media in Hong Kong reported that Chow’s mother had visited a police station in Hong Kong to assist with the investigation into the breach of her bail conditions.
Like Chow, Chung was offered a tour of mainland China by his supervision officers “to learn about China’s development”. “I knew that I had to go along with their thoughts to make them drop their guard, in order to get out of Hong Kong more easily. So I told them that China’s development is quite nice these days,” Chung said.
Chow’s tour took place in August, a few weeks before a similar trip was offered to Chung. However, the officers never followed up on the plan, Chung said.
Chung was convicted of secession under the national security law and money laundering in November 2021, and ordered to spend 43 months in jail. He had already served shorter sentences for unlawful assembly and desecrating the Chinese flag. He was released before completing his whole sentence because of time served and good behaviour.
Upon his release, Chung was ordered to abide by several conditions. As well as not leaving Hong Kong without permission, he was banned from speaking publicly about his conviction or talking about or publishing any material “objectively and reasonably capable of being perceived as endorsing, supporting, promoting, glorifying, encouraging or inciting the commission of offences … endangering national security”.
He was also unable to work without approval from the authorities. “Their demands effectively stripped me of financial autonomy, paving the way for the financial inducements later offered by the national security department of the Hong Kong police force,” Chung wrote in a Facebook post, announcing his arrival in the UK.
Chung said he was asked to spy on fellow activists, and offered fees ranging from HK$500 (about £50) to HK$3,000 for doing so. The heavy pressure and surveillance had a severe psychological and physical impact, he said.
A spokesperson for the Hong Kong police said the authorities had “been effectively collecting intelligence related to acts and activities that endanger national security” in accordance with the national security law.
“Recently some individuals who have committed crimes endangering national security openly violated supervision orders or bail conditions and fled Hong Kong, completely betraying trust and integrity. Not only have they failed to reflect on the harms they have caused to Hong Kong and members of the public, but they have also shamefully begged for assistance from foreign anti-China forces under the guise of being victims. Police strongly condemn such behaviour.”
Because of the restrictions after his release, Chung said he had no contact with the pro-democracy diaspora, many of whom live in exile because of the deteriorating freedoms in Hong Kong. Upon arrival in Okinawa, he spoke to overseas Hong Kong activist groups to discuss which country would be safest for him.
He considered the US, which had granted asylum to the activist Frances Hui, but with no valid visa, he had no way of getting to the border “unless I chose to enter illegally from Mexico, but this option would be full of uncertainties and dangers”. In recent years, surging numbers of Chinese migrants have attempted to enter the US via the dangerous Darién Gap, which sits between Panama and Colombia.
It was recently revealed that the Trump administration refused requests from Joshua Wong, another Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner, for help to flee Hong Kong. Wong is now in jail, awaiting sentencing as part of the Hong Kong 47 mass trial of pro-democracy activists.
Chung chose the UK because of its support for emigrating Hongkongers and because of “its recent clearer stance on China”.
“It’s very hard to help the political prisoners in Hong Kong,” he said. “The UK has done a lot already and shown care.”
As his plane touched down at Heathrow airport, Chung said he “truly understood that for the foreseeable future, I cannot go back to Hong Kong. Being in exile is something that is happening to me right now … I already miss Hong Kong. It was a very difficult decision to make.”
