The former Hong Kong leader in exile in the United Kingdom, Law Kwun Chung, recently announced that he has been notified by the British government that he has been granted asylum.
In a Facebook post on April 7, the 27-year-old said, “After about four months of application and many rounds of meetings and talks with refugee approval authorities, I have been notified by the British Home Office that my asylum application has been approved.”
Luo Guancong said that his application was approved “on the basis of the political cases I have faced and the fact that I am wanted by the Chinese Communist Party under the National Security Law, and that the evidence shows that I was forced to leave my home due to political persecution and will not be able to return to my country in the foreseeable future.”
Lo also mentioned that his own approval status is not representative of the situation faced by other Hong Kong people applying for refugee status in the UK: “Their cases may not necessarily receive media attention and thus be supported by news, or they may be questioned because the content of the case involves a clash of arms, or they may have fear because their comrades were arrested and left Hong Kong without concrete evidence. These friends may not be able to give sufficient evidence immediately when faced with refugee approval, and the confusion and anxiety about the future that accompanies waiting for interviews and results.” He knows the difficulties that many exile protesters face, and that it is not really easy.
He hopes that his case will enable the relevant authorities, such as the British Home Office, to better understand the complex political situation in Hong Kong, and to try to give a certain degree of discretion to Hong Kong people who apply, so as to protect a safe place for persecuted protesters to stay.
Lo is one of the young leaders of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, the civil society organization Hong Kong People’s Liberation Army, and was elected the youngest member of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council at the age of 23.
On April 10, 2016, he, Wong Chi-fung, Chow Ting and others established the civic organization “Hong Kong People’s Advocates,” of which he is the chairman, Wong Chi-fung is the secretary-general and Chow Ting is the deputy secretary-general. The organization aims to lobby internationally for the Hong Kong democracy movement, calling for sanctions against the Chinese Communist Party and the protection of human rights, democracy and freedom for Hong Kong people.
Before the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law came into effect on June 30, 2020, the Hong Kong House Committee announced its dissolution to protect the safety of other members. In early July 2020, Mr. Lo announced that he had fled to London, England.
In an interview with the Guardian newspaper in mid-December, after fleeing to London, Law said he had applied for political asylum in the United Kingdom, hoping that he could play the role of a bell-ringer in Europe and let Europe and the world know that the Chinese Communist regime poses a serious threat to democratic values.
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