The past few months have been especially terrible for Hongkongers. Their city, which over the past few years has bustled with political activity and protest, stood still. However, it was not just the fear of COVID-19 which kept people off the streets. The introduction of the national security law, in the summer of 2020, has done more than anything to stymie dissent. Since then we have seen numerous pro-democracy activists either arrested or forced into exile. While talk of “the end of Hong Kong” has often been overdone over the years, 2020 appears to mark a significant, possibly irreversible, turn for the worse.

What does the future hold for activism and advocacy in the years to come? How will opposition to the Hong Kong Government and the Communist Party of China manifest itself? Will the world ever witness millions on the streets of the city again? Moreover, what next for those now in exile – how can they sustain their struggle from afar?

The Henry Jackson Society is delighted to invite three vocal voices in exile from Washington DC, London, and Berlin to share their thoughts on these questions.

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Speakers

Joey Siu

Joey Siu is a Hongkongese-American student activist, associate of​Hong Kong Watch, and advisor to the ​Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) ​ . She participated actively in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement in terms of organizing local grassroots campaigns and also international advocacy for Hong Kong. Her focus is on human rights in Hong Kong, East Turkestan, Tibet, and other regions in China. She also writes on U.S. – China relations and Hong Kong politics. She has testified before the U.S. Congress twice, spoke in the U.K. Parliament and United Nations in Geneva, and gave briefings at the European Union Delegation office at the U.N.

Finn Lau

Finn Lau is one of the several Hong Kong activists-in-exile wanted under National Security Law who is facing the threat of potential life imprisonment. He is also the founder of “Hong Kong Liberty” and the first one to propose “laam caau” (phoenixism) which has steered the Hong Kong movement throughout 2019 and 2020.

Ray Wong

Ray Wong is a Hong Kong activist. He founded the political party Hong Kong Indigenous, whose slogan”Liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our time” has become one of the main slogans in the anti-extradition law movement last year. He was charged with “inciting a riot” in the Mongkok civil unrest called the “Fishball Revolution” in 2016. In May 2018, he was granted asylum by the German Federal government.

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