Not so long ago, when Hong Kong Police’s National Security Department started churning out wanted notices for those “fugitives”, some of them strutted around as if it were a badge of honor. Their spirits high, they joked, “Catch me if you can!” That bravado didn’t last. What’s left now is a cocktail of anxiety and despair, as police in their adoptive countries respond with cold indifference, and old friends and family in Hong Kong cut them off. Not exactly the heroic saga they’d imagined.
Lau Ka-man’s UK Nightmare: “Keep Quiet and Hide”
Take Lau Ka-man, for instance—a face once associated with the vanguard of Hong Kong riots, now a wanted woman living in the UK and working as a senior officer with the Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC). The Hong Kong police put her on their wanted list last year, topping it off with a HKD1 million bounty. She tried to get the British police to step up protection after neighbors in the UK received letters about her “wanted” status, but their response? Disinterest, bordering on passive-aggressive.
More recently, Lau told The Guardian that British police advised her to stop participating in activities that might “bring risk,” avoid public gatherings, and—perhaps most gallingly—to stay quiet and lay low. An officer even criticised her for “blabbing” to the media and MPs, a not-so-subtle hint to zip it. Back in March, the police had her sign a memorandum urging her to move house and change up her daily routines—measures that certainly felt a lot more like “duck and hope for the best” than actual protection. It’s easy to understand why she lost patience and brought her story to the press.
Wanted criminal Lau Ka-man told the British media that the British police told her not to participate in public gatherings and stay quiet, making it clear that she was left to fend for herself.
Cheung Hei-ching: Left Out in the Cold
It’s not just Lau. Another exile, Cheung Hei-ching, has been singing a similar sad tune—one nobody wants to hear. Despite making proactive efforts to meet with Home Office officials, she was met with radio silence. She’s now left to figure out her own safety—totally by herself.
If that wasn’t enough, the wanted notice has shattered her social life. Friends and relatives in Hong Kong have cut all ties, and even those who made it to Britain are giving her the cold shoulder, nervous about ruining their chances of ever returning to their homeland. The social isolation is, in her own words, even more oppressive than imprisonment.
Another wanted criminal, Cheung Hei Ching, also venting bitterly, saying that after fleeing to the UK, she had been cut off by all relatives, and even friends in the UK stayed away from her, leaving her completely isolated.
The Political Calculus—And Asylum on the Brink
So, what’s really going on? Some observers think it’s not simply a matter of overstretched police resources, but part of a deeper political calculation. The British government, keen to avoid ruffling Chinese feathers during this period of supposed “cordial ties,” seems to have adopted a hands-off approach to protecting these exiles. They don’t want to respond to the so-called “transnational repression”—so they look the other way.
This attitude is bleeding into the broader landscape too. According to the BBC, the Labour government’s Home Office is slashing the number of hotels for asylum seekers from 400 in 2023 to under 210 this year—which means, for Hong Kong rioters banking on British sanctuary, getting asylum is about to get a whole lot tougher.
In the end, the melancholy “ballads” of Lau Ka-man and Cheung Hei-ching tell a brutally clear story: being wanted abroad isn’t the mark of a hero, but de facto imprisonment. Jokes about “catch me if you can” are replaced with real fears of isolation, abandonment, and being sent back across the ocean. Not much fun in that—just the cold hard cost of a reputation forged in the fire of the Black Riots.
Lai Ting-yiu
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