Two of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy figures — both wanted by the city’s authorities — have been granted asylum overseas, pointing up the widening gulf between Beijing’s tightening grip and the liberal democracies eager to shelter its critics.
Tony Chung, once the youngest person jailed under Hong Kong’s sweeping national security law, confirmed he has been granted refugee status in Britain. Former lawmaker Ted Hui, who fled the city in 2020 while awaiting trial for his role in mass protests, announced that Australia has approved protection visas for him and his family.
Their announcements, made over the weekend, place them among a growing cohort of dissidents scattered across Europe, North America and Australasia, living in exile yet still targeted by Hong Kong authorities.
Since Beijing imposed the national security law in 2020, dissent in the former British colony has been steadily criminalised. Officials in both Beijing and Hong Kong insist the legislation restored stability after months of turmoil. Critics see it as the dismantling of the “one country, two systems” arrangement that was meant to guarantee the city’s freedoms for 50 years after its 1997 handover from Britain.
Read also: Hong Kong Mulls Tough New National Security Punishments
Hui, now practising as a lawyer in Adelaide, said in a Facebook post that asylum offered his family a new beginning. “This decision reflects values of freedom, justice, and compassion that my family will never take for granted,” he wrote, thanking successive Australian governments for what he called an act of recognition and protection.
Hui’s defiance in the legislature once made headlines. In 2020, he interrupted debate on a controversial bill to criminalise insults to China’s national anthem by hurling a rotten plant onto the chamber floor — a gesture that cost him a hefty fine but cemented his image as one of the legislature’s most unyielding voices.
Chung, meanwhile, has been an emblem of youthful resistance. Convicted of secession and money laundering in 2020, he served nearly four years in prison before being released under supervision. From there he managed to leave for Japan and later Britain. Writing on Threads, he said refugee status and a five-year resident permit offered him not just security but relief after years of upheaval and what he described as a battle with his own mental health.
Authorities in London and Canberra have not publicly commented on their cases. But in Hong Kong, officials issued a sharp rebuke, accusing foreign governments of “harbouring criminals” and of showing “gross disrespect” for the city’s legal system.
The condemnation reflects a familiar pattern: Beijing and its allies insisting stability has been restored, while exiled dissidents portray themselves as the living record of what has been lost. For now, Hui and Chung are thousands of miles from the city they once fought to change — still outspoken, but from the uncertain vantage of exile.