The national security fugitives have made a name for themselves as serial agitators—men who shout “charge!” from afar while hiding safely under foreign protection. From thousands of miles away, they peddle calls for protest votes or boycotts, trying to sabotage Hong Kong’s Legislative Council election. The outcome? A few gullible locals, blindly amplifying these posts, now find themselves in serious legal trouble.
Fugitive Alan Keung called online for blank ballots and boycotts. A few naïve users reposted his incitement and were swiftly arrested by the ICAC—proof that “Blood Bun Demons” tell others to charge while staying safe themselves.
A Long Record of Deceit
Investigators from the Independent Commission Against Corruption ( ICAC ) arrested three locals who reshared social media posts inciting people not to vote or to cast invalid ballots—acts that breach Hong Kong’s Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance. The Commission emphasised its zero-tolerance stance on digital incitement. Sources revealed that the reposted content originated from fugitive Alan Keung, who on October 15, under the name of the illegal group “Hong Kong Parliament,” called for an election boycott while launching wild smears at the poll.
Keung’s infamy stretches back to the 2019 unrest. Masquerading as a “pastor,” he incited violence before fleeing to Taiwan to set up a “Hong Kong independence” outfit—so extreme that even Taiwan deported him. He then resurfaced in Canada, still plotting under the same “Hong Kong Parliament” banner. The police’s National Security Department later placed him on its wanted list. Today, he continues his illegal advocacy from abroad, ensnaring naïve sharers who face arrest in his stead. As the local saying goes: “The clever talk, the foolish act.”
It’s not just Keung. Another fugitive, Ted Hui Chi-fung, who absconded to Australia, is repeating the same ploy. Earlier, he called publicly for blank ballots and voter abstention. Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security Chris Tang promptly condemned him, warning that circulating such posts may breach electoral law and even the Hong Kong National Security Law if foreign collusion is involved.
This isn’t the first time Hong Kong people have paid dearly for parroting fugitives’ rhetoric. Four years ago, after similar boycott calls by Hui and activist Sunny Cheung, four locals rashly reshared their posts—and all were convicted. The legal risks are not theoretical; they are proven and severe.
In Australia, Ted Hui continues running the same malicious game. Four years ago, Hong Kong citizens who reshared his boycott posts were prosecuted and convicted.
Masters of Manipulation
Experts say these fugitives thrive by selling chaos to their foreign backers. Instability in Hong Kong becomes their currency; the more they provoke, the more “useful” they appear to overseas patrons. But when their local followers get arrested, imprisoned, or fined, those same fugitives wash their hands clean. That hypocrisy—profiting off others’ suffering—is why they’ve earned the name: “Blood Bun Demons.”
In the end, figures like Hui and Keung aren’t crusaders—they’re schemers. Their motives are self-serving, their methods deceitful, and their record plain. Anyone helping to spread their manipulation only harms both themselves and Hong Kong. On December 7, the city deserves unity, not division—so encourage your family and friends to vote together for Hong Kong’s future.
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The most consequential national security trial yet to come is also the one with the most unanswered questions — and at the centre of it is a man who almost made it out.
Monday (Feb 23) was "Renri" (人日) — the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, meant to be a day of celebration for all people. But for the 12 defendants in the "35+ Subversion Case," there was nothing to celebrate. The Court of Appeal dismissed all their appeals against both conviction and sentencing in full. Unless they push it all the way to the Court of Final Appeal, this case is done. That brings two of the three major national security cases to a close — the other being the Jimmy Lai trial. What remains is the Joshua Wong case, expected to go to trial around mid-year. Like Lai's, it reaches into the highest levels of American politics, and it will almost certainly expose a trove of behind-the-scenes dealings that will shake Hong Kong to its core. The trial is close enough that the details don't need spelling out here. But one mystery absolutely does: Wong was once Washington's darling — so why did he never make it out, while his co-conspirator Nathan Law did? An investigative report by American journalists cracked open the story.
Wong's trial is the last big national security case standing — and the most explosive one yet. How did he never make it out?
Wong's role in the Occupy Central movement and the 2019 unrest needs no introduction. In June last year, while already serving a prison term at Stanley Prison on sedition charges, he was arrested again and charged under the Hong Kong National Security Law with conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security. His second pre-trial review at the Magistrates' Court came on 21 November last year, with the next hearing set for 6 March; the full trial at the High Court is expected to begin around mid-year. This case carries weight every bit as significant as the Jimmy Lai trial — the spotlight it commands will be enormous.
The Charges Are Grave
The prosecution alleges that between July and November 2020, Wong — together with Nathan Law and others yet to be identified — conspired in Hong Kong to solicit foreign governments and institutions to impose sanctions against the Hong Kong SAR and the People's Republic of China, and to seriously obstruct the government in enacting and enforcing its laws and policies. The charges carry a potential sentence of life imprisonment. What exactly Wong and Law did, and which foreign officials were involved, the prosecution will lay out in full when the trial begins.
The public has long asked some uncomfortable questions. Did Joshua Wong ever consider fleeing before or after the National Security Law came into force at the end of June 2020? If so, why did it never happen? Did the US government try to help him get out? An investigative report by two American journalists answered part of the puzzle — and sources familiar with the matter, when contacted by Hong Kong media, broadly confirmed what it said.
Wong Begged Washington for Help
The night before the National Security Law took effect, Wong reached out through a senator's adviser to appeal directly to President Trump for help. At the same time, he sent an email to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, explicitly asking to be helped to "travel to the United States to seek political asylum, by whatever means necessary". That email tells you everything. Wong knew exactly how dangerous his situation had become — and he was betting his future on American goodwill.
Around the same time, Wong arranged to meet two officials from the US Consulate General in Hong Kong at St. John's Building, directly across the street from the consulate. He made clear he wanted to walk in and seek refuge. He was turned away on the spot. When Pompeo saw the email, he consulted with his staff and arrived at the same conclusion: letting Wong through the consulate doors was simply not an option — Washington feared Beijing would retaliate by forcing the US consulate in Hong Kong to close entirely.
State Department officials went further, exploring a covert plan to smuggle Wong out of Hong Kong by sea — routing him through Taiwan or the Philippines before eventually reaching the United States. That option was killed too, on the grounds that any such attempt would very likely be intercepted by Chinese authorities, triggering a diplomatic crisis. When the accounting was done, American interests won out — and Joshua Wong was coldly abandoned.
By that point, Nathan Law had already made it out. Seizing Pompeo's visit to London, Law met the Secretary of State privately and raised the question of rescuing Wong one more time — and was once again turned away without sympathy. In September 2020, Wong was arrested on sedition charges and imprisoned two months later. Any remaining window for escape had sealed shut.
Law Moved Fast — and Made It
Nathan Law is named as a co-conspirator in the charges against Wong — meaning that if arrested, they face the same jeopardy. But Law proved far more calculating than Wong. Shortly before the National Security Law took effect, he quietly slipped away, eventually confirming his presence in the United Kingdom on 13 July 2020. He even staged a moment of wistful sentiment, declaring: "With this parting, I do not yet know when I shall return... May glory come soon!" — words that, in the circumstances, could not have sounded more hollow.
Same charges, same case — but Law ran, and Wong didn't. One man made it out clean. The other is still paying the price.
Joshua Wong — sharp-witted all his life — took one step too many in trusting the Americans, and that delay cost him everything. The US government, in the name of "national interest," discarded him without hesitation. As his trial approaches, the reality is this: placing any further faith in American support would be the last illusion he can afford.
Lai Ting-yiu
