The Hong Kong independence activist Tony Chung says he has been granted asylum in the UK, two years after fleeing the Chinese region.
Chung, 24, revealed the news on his Instagram page on Sunday, the day after the former Hong Kong legislator Ted Hui said he had been granted asylum in Australia. Both Chung and Hui are among dozens of pro-democracy activists targeted with arrest warrants and 1m Hong Kong dollar bounties by authorities.
Chung was one of the youngest people to be sentenced to jail under Hong Kong’s draconian national security law, which was imposed by China in 2020 and essentially criminalised dissent in the former British colony.
He posted a photo of a letter from the UK Home Office saying he had been granted refugee status and five years of residency in the UK. “This means that we accept you have a well-founded fear of persecution and therefore cannot return to your country,” the letter said.
Chung said his initial reaction to the news was “sheer joy”. “After waiting for over a year and a half, I can finally begin to try to start a new life,” he wrote. “My future holds so many possibilities, but this feeling, in turn, brings me fear – the fear of planning for the future.”
He said he had struggled with depression and other mental illnesses since his arrest in 2020, and had been receiving treatment. He said that since arriving in the UK three years ago he had questioned his activism from overseas, often feeling like “I’ve simply ended up infamous, imprisoned, and exiled for no apparent reason”.
“All I can say is that I won’t give up, and I don’t want to. I’m still willing to fully commit to anything I believe is worthwhile.”
He said that “barring any unforeseen circumstances”, he would be able to apply for permanent residency in the UK.
Hui, who has remained a vocal critic of the Hong Kong and Chinese governments since he fled the city and resettled in Adelaide, said the protection visa also included his wife, children and parents.
“I express my sincere gratitude to the government of Australia – both present and former – for recognising our need for asylum and granting us this protection,” he said in a Facebook post on Saturday.
Chung and Hui are among dozens of activists targeted with bounties – Hui in 2023 and Chung in 2024. Last month, Hong Kong authorities announced another 19 individuals were wanted. Observers have described the bounties as largely symbolic because those targeted mostly live in place that don’t have – or have ended – extradition agreements with Hong Kong.
However, dissidents have reported other methods of persecution, prompting G7 nations to issue a statement earlier this month condemning Hong Kong for seeking to “silence, intimidate, harass, harm or coerce” pro-democracy campaigners living abroad.
In a statement on Sunday, the Hong Kong government expressed its “strong disapproval and opposition against the harbouring of criminals in any form by any country”.
It said arrests and prosecutions had “nothing to do” with the political stance or background of the individual and “any country that harbours Hong Kong criminals in any form shows contempt for the rule of law, grossly disrespects Hong Kong’s legal systems and barbarically interferes in the affairs of Hong Kong”.
