London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Four Hong Kong activists seeking asylum in US consulate ‘turned away’

Four Hong Kong activists seeking asylum in US consulate ‘turned away’

The four ran up to talk to security guards, who allowed them inside the compound, but they not did to stay. Incident came after arrest of three others tied to now-defunct Studentlocalism group.

Hong Kong national security police arrest activist near US consulate

Four Hong Kong activists entered the US consulate on Tuesday afternoon in a dramatic bid for asylum, just hours after the city’s police national security unit arrested the former leader of a pro-independence group as he was planning a similar move at the diplomatic mission.

It is understood that the four – after a Post reporter saw them running up Garden Road and talking to security guards at the entrance before they were allowed into the compound – were later rejected, but there was no official confirmation.

Sources said mainland Chinese officials in Hong Kong were aware of their attempt and closely monitoring what could have erupted into a major diplomatic row, had the would-be asylum seekers been accepted.

One source familiar with the situation said the group was seeking asylum in the United States, and the Post can confirm that at least one of them faces charges stemming from last year’s anti-government protests.


Police officers arrest Tony Chung in Central on Tuesday.


A government spokesman said it would not comment on media reports but stressed anyone prosecuted under local laws should face trial by “an independent judiciary”, regardless of their political beliefs or background.

“There is no justification for any so-called “political asylum” for people in Hong Kong,” he said.

But with no official statement from mainland or United States authorities, observers and political commentators interpreted the silence as a deliberately quiet handling of the incident to avoid inflaming tensions between Beijing and Washington with Hong Kong in the middle.

They noted that despite the official rhetoric and moves from Washington in support of Hong Kong’s anti-government activists – including a recent decision to include their asylum claims for the first time in its refugee admissions programme – there were limits to how far the US was prepared to go.

The drama began with the arrest of Tony Chung Hon-lam, former convenor of the now-defunct Studentlocalism group, at a Pacific Coffee outlet opposite the US consulate on Tuesday morning.

The 19-year-old activist was detained by several police officers from the national security unit shortly after 8am, before he could approach the consulate for asylum.

Hours later, two former members of the group – Yannis Ho and William Chan – were also arrested when they reported to a police station in connection with their previous arrest on July 29, according to their Facebook page.

All three had been out on bail since July after first being arrested for alleged violations of the national security law in relation to their group’s stated mission to turn Hong Kong into a republic

Police said they were arrested on Tuesday for administering Facebook pages that contained posts deemed to be inciting subversion, now a crime under the national security law along with acts of secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.


Police officers arrest former Studentlocalism member Yannis Ho in Tai Wai.


The US consulate had no comment, but the official policy was clear on its website: “Under US law, the United States considers asylum only for aliens who are physically present in the United States.”

A mainland source said both Beijing’s liaison office and the office of the commissioner of China’s foreign ministry in the city were aware of developments since noon and had been “watching the events closely”. But they stopped short of issuing an official response.

Lau Siu-kai, vice-chairman of semi-official think tank the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said the way the matter had been quietly handled showed that both sides were trying to avoid any escalation.

“On China’s part, it would like to avoid a political storm,” he said. “As for the US, given the ongoing trade war, it could lead to the US consulate shutting down.”

Lau said the consulate was unlikely to take in relatively unknown or low-profile activists as a matter of practicality, as that could open the floodgates. The diplomatic mission would risk being accused of providing “a base for pro-independence forces”, he added.

Veteran pro-establishment lawmaker and government adviser Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, a former security minister herself, said the consulate might have done a quick screening and decided that the four did not qualify for asylum.

“[Otherwise] the four could end up stuck in the US consulate like Julian Assange in London,” she said, referring to the Wikileaks founder who sought refuge in Ecuador’s London embassy for seven years to avoid extradition to Sweden, and possibly the US.

University of Hong Kong legal scholar Simon Young Ngai-man, who specialises in extradition law, said: “It would be highly exceptional if they could validly claim asylum or refugee protection outside the United States in a US consulate building.”

Britain-based China watcher Professor Steve Tsang, of SOAS University of London, said the incident showed how much Hong Kong had changed over the past year.

“The passing of the [national security law] has created a sense of fear and concern among activists and perhaps many in the wider population that did not exist previously,” he said. “If the US [consulate] should offer asylum to activists in Hong Kong, it will become a significant incident between the two governments, as the [Beijing] government will not allow the US authorities to secure permission for those concerned to leave Hong Kong, and the US government would not hand them over to the Chinese or Hong Kong authorities, certainly not before the presidential election.”

Friends of Hong Kong, a London-based activist group set up to “defend democracy, rights and freedoms in Hong Kong”, confirmed it had been helping Chung to seek asylum.

A police source said Chung was the administrator of the Facebook pages Hong Kong Studentlocalism US Division and Initiative Independence Party. Since his arrest on July 29, the two pages allegedly continued to run posts inciting subversion.

Tuesday’s arrests came two days after Taiwan deported Hongkonger Lee Pun-ho for tailing and photographing Chung on the self-ruled island last year. Lee was accused of offering those pictures to pro-Beijing newspapers in Hong Kong.

Chung’s conditions for his HK$2,000 (US$260) bail bar him from travelling for six months and he is required to report to police once a month.

As of October 15, the police national security unit had arrested 22 men and six women.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×