We are living in fear in UK, say Hongkongers
Student who fled China’s crackdown hides his past in case of retribution by Beijing’s unofficial police
‘It’s difficult to feel like a normal student. I feel like I can’t make friends easily because I don’t want to share my true past’
TO OTHER students at his university, Theo seems like an ordinary international student, working hard at his studies and improving his English. They might also consider him a little aloof. That’s because he’s unable to tell anyone the real reason he is in the UK.
Three years ago, he was one of tens of thousands of protesters on the streets of Hong Kong defying Beijing and the authorities in demanding true democracy for the former British colony.
Yet as China’s crackdown on the officially autonomous city intensified, Theo was arrested and forced to flee abroad. Out of fear of retribution from Beijing’s long reach, he is unable to tell people the truth.
“I find it so difficult to feel like a normal student,” Theo, which is a pseudonym, said. “I feel like I can’t make friends easily because I don’t want to share my true past.
“Even with Hongkonger friends here, or any friends really, I will use a fake story like, ‘I came here because I’ll get a better degree’ or ‘when I graduate I’ll try and get a job in Hong Kong’”.
Theo is telling his story amid mounting disclosures about unofficial “police stations” that China has set up across the world which campaigners claim have been used to silence dissenters and force emigres to return home.
The young Hongkonger features prominently in a new BBC documentary, Hong Kong’s Fight for Freedom, the second episode of which is broadcast tomorrow.
To protect his and the other local contributors’ identities, the programme makers used artificial intelligence to create false faces for them. It is the same technology behind so-called deepfakes which can create convincing video impersonations of real people.
Theo was studying mechanical engineering at Hong Kong Polytechnic University when protests first broke out at plans to pass an extradition law that included mainland China.
The protests spiralled rapidly, to the point that on June 9, 2019 as many as a million Hongkongers took to the streets in opposition to the extradition bill.
Theo was among them, having been persuaded by his fellow students to join in. He said: “I thought, I can go, it’s a peaceful protest, I can join and show my concerns about the extradition deal.”
In spite of the unprecedented number of citizens on the street, the Hong Kong authorities insisted that nothing would change.
Carrie Lam, the then-chief executive of the city, announced the following day that she would press ahead with the bill on June 12.
Theo, growing in anger, joined an enormous protest that day which surrounded the Hong Kong’s legislative committee (LegCo) building and prevented it from resuming progress of the bill.
At that protest, however, the police turned violent, firing tear gas and rubber bullets into the protesters and charging them with riot shields and batons.
It was that moment that changed Theo’s world view, turning him against the police and making him determined to protest whenever he could, often violently.
Theo insists he was never an organiser and only a low-level protester, but it did not stop the police from arresting him and launching a thorough investigation of his life. While some were able to hide their actions from their family, the youngster was not.
“When I was arrested, they took me back to my home to search it, so my parents saw me under arrest”.
What ultimately drove him to flee was that, despite being officially charged by police, Theo had no idea what for.
“After I was arrested, my charge sheet was just blank, so I didn’t know what I’d been charged with.
“My friends told me to leave because I could have gone to jail for a long time.”
Crucially, the police had access to his phone while he was under arrest and there was no knowing what they might use from it against him.
Theo was arrested while throwing Molotov cocktails and he feared they might claim he had been looking at bomb-making on his phone and charge him with terrorism, putting him behind bars for decades. “That’s the main reason I left so quickly.”
However, there was no guarantee that he would be able to escape. While still on bail, he headed for the airport and hoped he would get through.
“It was before the National Security Law, so it was easier to leave,” he said, referring to the draconian legislation imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing to end the stand-off over the extradition bill.
“But I had to take some risks by just going to the airport and buying a ticket. When I went to the airport, I didn’t know if I’d be arrested again or be able to leave.
“I didn’t know if I would get through the immigration department, but I tried it, and luckily I was able to go.”
Having been born after Hong Kong was handed over to Chinese rule in 1997, Theo was not directly eligible for the British National (Overseas) visa that has allowed 123,000 Hongkongers to flee to the UK.
He went first to Germany before one of his parents was able to join him in the UK, giving Theo dependent status under their own BNO visa.
It has meant that his family is now split in two. His other parent and his siblings remain in Hong Kong and at risk of retaliation.
“I pay international fees for my university. It’s a lot of money. [My family] need to support me here so they want to earn more in Hong Kong rather than come here and restart all the things again.”
While they continue to support him, Theo’s prospects and that of his family remain unclear.
“I’ve been here two years already, but I don’t see any future where I can return to Hong Kong.”