Hong Kong issues arrest warrant for teenage activist

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.

- TOM WATLING

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 antidemocratic influence on the city.

Arrest warrants have been issued for the six activists, while a HK$1m (£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.