"Beijing’s action in Hong Kong crosses the red line", Benedict Rogers

Arrest of father and brother of US-based activist Anna Kwok marks a further escalation in its campaign of repression

Last week, the Hong Kong authorities hit a new low by arresting family members of an exiled pro-democracy activist.

National security police arrested the father and brother of Anna Kwok, the US-based executive director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council, charging them with helping her with her finances. They could face up to seven years in jail.

Kwok is already one of 19 exiled Hong Kong activists facing arrest warrants and bounties of HK$1 million (US$129,000) and is described as an “absconder.” She is accused of colluding with foreign forces, a serious offence under Hong Kong’s draconian National Security Law.

But while the relatives of other overseas activists have been called in for interrogation and subjected to harassment, this is the first time relatives have actually been arrested.

It marks a further escalation in Beijing’s campaign of repression in Hong Kong.

According to news reports, Kwok’s father, 68-year-old Kwok Yin-sang, is charged with assisting his daughter with her life and personal accident insurance policy.

Kwok’s brother has been accused of supporting his father’s efforts.

Apparently, these acts are crimes under Hong Kong’s domestic security law — the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance — which was introduced last year to supplement and strengthen the National Security Law imposed on the city by Beijing in 2020.

Under this law, it is illegal to “make available, directly or indirectly, any funds or other financial assets or economic resources to, or for the benefit of, a relevant absconder.”

The absurdity of this case would be laughable if it were not so tragic.

What father would not help his daughter with her insurance arrangements?

Yet the tragedy is heartbreaking.

A young woman, aged 26, has already fled her home and gone into exile, separated from her family and facing threats from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime in Hong Kong.

Now she faces the possibility that her father and brother could spend years in jail.

This is the latest in an intensifying campaign of transnational repression by Beijing against diaspora communities and foreign critics, which, in addition to arrest warrants and bounties, has involved anonymous threatening letters to Hong Kong activists overseas — or their neighbours.

In the United Kingdom, neighbours of two exiled Hong Kongers, Carmen Lau and Tony Chung, received letters urging them to hand over the two activists to the Chinese embassy, or gather information on their activities, and offering a reward of HK$1 million for doing so.

In Australia, former pro-democracy legislator Ted Hui and lawyer Kevin Yam have been similarly targeted.

In Hong Kong, the families of activists such as Nathan Law, Frances Hui, Carmen Lau, Christopher Mung, former legislator Dennis Kwok, and others have been called in for questioning, in a clear attempt to increase pressure on the exiled activists.

Now, Beijing has gone even further.

It is all designed to create a chill among the CCP’s critics, wherever they are in the world.

Overseas activists with relatives back home will have to consider how much to speak out when, even though they may have the freedom to do so in exile in a Western

democracy, they know their relatives will be at risk.

The international community must not turn a blind eye to this case.

Even though it is understandably preoccupied with Ukraine, Gaza and a multitude of other global challenges, the United States — where Kwok lives — must speak out for her father and brother.

The United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Australia and Asian democracies such as Japan and Korea must do so too.

Every effort must be made to secure their release.

Beijing’s repression of Hong Kong and, by extension, its increased aggression towards critics well beyond its borders cannot be tolerated.

The CCP’s attempts to silence all dissent must not be allowed to succeed.

Those of us who still have a voice and the freedom to use it must do so even more loudly and clearly than ever.

This article was published in UCA News on 5 May 2025.