China targets dissidents overseas

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 11th of July, 2023. This is WORLD Radio and we thank you for joining us today! Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

First up on The World and Everything in It: the Chinese government reaches beyond its borders chasing dissidents.

Last week, police in Hong Kong issued arrest warrants for eight pro-democracy activists who fled overseas.

The government accuses these expats of violating a national security law that’s been used to persecute dissidents as China cracks down on rights.

EICHER: Authorities went so far as as to place a million-dollar bounty on each dissident. That’s the equivalent of more than $120,000 U.S. dollars. And it’s a first under that law. The escalation has drawn criticism from rights groups as well as Western nations alarmed by the implications.

Joining us now to talk about the dangers these dissidents face is Jonathan Dingler with China Aid, a U.S.-based human rights organization.

REICHARD: Jonathan, welcome!

JONATHAN DINGLER: Thank you for having me, Mary.

REICHARD: Jonathan, personal freedoms have deteriorated a lot in Hong Kong in recent years. Remind us of the history behind that?

DINGLER: Well, it was really the introduction of this national security law, which essentially made it so that Hong Kong citizens could be liable for China crimes. Essentially, before, China promised that Hong Kong would be one country, two systems. Which means that Hong Kong would be able to manage its own government, make its own decisions regarding legislation and judicial matters. But after the National Security Law made it more difficult to be an advocate for freedom in Hong Kong, because now those advocates could be arrested for Chinese crimes. So this sparked a huge protest in late to early 2020. And we saw just a harsh crackdown from the Chinese authorities, which led to countless Hong Kong protesters and activists leaving Hong Kong.

REICHARD: And now we have this news of China targeting Hong Kong dissidents overseas. What do these arrest warrants mean, for these particular people?

DINGLER: Well, as it's been stated, they actually can't arrest them, obviously, unless they come to Hong Kong themselves. But this is incredibly concerning for anybody in the Human Rights space, mostly because we have seen a track record of the Chinese government. We've seen a track record of the Chinese government using transnational repression, to either bring expats and dissidents back to China and then they're tried for the crimes that they've so called committed. And this is, this is incredibly concerning seeing that the Hong Kong government is now actively pursuing these dissidents overseas.

REICHARD: And we do have an example of that right here in the United States with Bob Fu.

DINGLER: That's right. Um, there was a report back in April from Axios, about Bob Fu, our founder here at China aid. He was an underground pastor in China for some time, a Tiananmen Square demonstrator. He came and founded China aid in 2002. He has been relentlessly harassed by the Chinese Communist Party with bomb threats sometime earlier this year. The CCP used operatives to call in these false bomb threats into cities like Los Angeles, New York, even Houston, soliciting basically making a hotel reservation in his name, and then making a false bomb threat. And that makes, you know, the FBI get involved. And they're calling Bob to see if he's actually made these threats. And this is not just Bob, unfortunately, there's a lot of dissidents with similar tactics used by the CCP.

REICHARD: And what is China aid doing to try to help those who have fled persecution in China?

DINGLER: Well, China aid is not a resettlement group. So we can't actually help when we rescue people from China, or maybe, you know, if we do rescue people from Hong Kong, we bring them to the US, we help them for a year, and then it's up to them to get asylum and that sort of thing. But our main goal is to expose, encourage, and equip. We want to expose the abuses in China, we want to tell the American people the Western world about these abuses and make sure that they're up to date, and know about these pressing issues, especially with Hong Kong and China. And we want to encourage the views of the people that are living here in the West that are taking refuge, seeking asylum. We want them to be encouraged by our work to see that it's actually having an impact both at the government level and at the grassroots level.

REICHARD: Jonathan, I want to ask you, what is happening with the church in Hong Kong? Is the gospel spreading there underground?

DINGLER: It is spreading underground. Unfortunately, Hong Kong has begun to crack down pretty severely on religious freedom. As we've been seeing over the last few years personal freedoms in Hong Kong are continuing to diminish. And over the last year, we've seen a continuing deterioration of religious freedom in Hong Kong. Especially with the Catholic Church. That's kind of the predominant religion in Hong Kong. And we've seen, you know, deterioration of this religious freedom. You know, Cardinal Zen, Joseph Zen, he was a huge advocate for human rights and religious freedom, and he was put on trial. We've seen lots of the Catholic Church being forced to synthesize being forced to make themselves compatible with socialism. And so religious freedoms are continuing to dwindle. But there is still hope for the gospel. It's in times like these of persecution, where Hong Kong Christians can come together and under the weight of persecution actually be able to tell a more credible gospel, which is really encouraging.

REICHARD: Jonathan Dingler is with China Aid, a US based human rights organization. Jonathan, thank you so much.

DINGLER: Thank you so much, Mary.

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