A 19-year-old pro-democracy activist who went from finishing secondary school in the UK to becoming one of Hong Kong’s most wanted critics has vowed that she will not be silenced by Chinese fear and suppression.
Hong Kong authorities have accused Chloe Cheung, 19, alongside five other activists, three of whom are UK-based, of violating national security laws introduced in 2020 following protests the year before, which opposed China’s swelling anti-democratic influence on the city.
Arrest warrants have been issued for the six activists, while a HK$1 million (£103,000) bounty has been put out for their capture. It is the second year in a row that Hong Kong authorities have issued such warrants and bounties on Christmas Eve.
“Today, in my adopted UK home, I’ve endured constant threats, both online and physical. But this didn’t stop me from speaking out and now I have a bounty on my head,” Ms Cheung said.
“Fear cannot restrain me. Suppression cannot silence me. I will wear this burden with pride and without fear.”
Official documents accuse her of publishing articles as a “core member” of the US-based Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation (CFHKF), giving speeches and posting on social media “advocating separating Hong Kong from China and requested foreign countries to impose sanctions or blockade, engage in other hostile activities against China and Hong Kong”.
Just a year ago, however, Ms Cheung was finishing her final year of secondary school, living in a country into which she had been forced to flee at the age of just 15 and attending local, pro-Hong Kong democracy marches.
The teenage activist, who attended some of the protests back in Hong Kong in her school uniform, having gone straight from class to the marches when she was as young as 13, has been described as a “brave” and “fiercely pro-democracy” figure by those that know her.
During those protests, she says she “faced tear gas and batons and bullets from the Hong Kong police” before being forced to give her name to the authorities, prompting her departure from the city.
After navigating her way through secondary school here in the UK, she quickly applied to join CFHKF.
“In the space of a year, she’s gone from being a teenager that participated in local Hong Kong parades and marches to a bountied individual,” says Mark Sabah, the head of UK operations at CFHKF.
“She works hard. She is dedicated. She is very clever and fiercely pro-Hong Kong democracy. She’s just brilliant to have on our team.
“She keeps going and going. She’s an absolutely outstanding colleague and we are completely in support of her.”
Mr Sabah described the latest warrants and bounties as “shocking yet not surprising” as he urged the British government to do more to fight Chinese and Hong Kong efforts to suppress free speech abroad.
