Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has raised concerns with China over anonymous letters sent to Australians offering a reward for information on the whereabouts of activist lawyer Kevin Yam, a frequent commentator on Hong Kong political developments.
“The Australian government does not accept other governments interfering with our citizens, making anybody feel unsafe,” Wong told a news conference last week.
“I’ll await whatever investigations come to light but I have made my view about Australians being targeted by the Hong Kong authorities very clear to both Hong Kong and to China,” she said, when asked if she believed the governments of Hong Kong or China were involved in the letters.
The letters were mailed from Hong Kong and were nearly identical to letters sent to residents of the United Kingdom in February, calling for neighbors of two wanted pro-democracy activists to bring them to the Chinese Embassy in London.
They were sent to people living near U.K.-based pro-independence activist Tony Chung and former district councilor Carmen Lau, they told RFA Cantonese in interviews last month.
All of the letters use similar wording to Hong Kong police wanted notices offering bounties of HK$1 million (US$128,000) for the arrest of “fugitives” under national security legislation.
Yam, who returned to Australia in 2022, is among 19 exiled activists including Chung and Lau who are wanted by the government under an ongoing crackdown on dissent under two security laws.
On his X account on Tuesday, Yam criticized the British government for encouraging such tactics with its “tepid” responses to similar letters sent to U.K. residents, calling on them to turn in exiled Hong Kong activists Carmen Lau and Tony Chung at the Chinese Embassy.
He said fellow wanted activist and former pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui had also been targeted by similar letters to Australians.
“I believe that UK’s hitherto tepid responses to similar incidents involving @carmenkamanlau and @TonyChungHonLam have emboldened authoritarian oppressors’ minions to try their luck in Australia against @tedhuichifung and me,” Lam wrote.
“Transnational repression can only be effectively countered when free world allies stand firm together,” he said, tagging British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
“It is incumbent upon you to follow the strong leadership shown by your Australian counterparts without further delay,” Yam wrote, adding in a separate tweet that he would “continue to live my everyday life.”
Yam is based in Melbourne and Hui -- also a lawyer -- in Adelaide.
China said it would “brook no interference” in Hong Kong’s affairs from Australia.
“Hong Kong affairs are purely China’s internal affairs that brook no external interference,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday.
“Australia blatantly interfered in Hong Kong’s rule of law ... We urge Australia to respect China’s sovereignty and rule of law in Hong Kong,” Mao said.
The Hong Kong government issued statements to Agence France-Presse and the South China Morning Post denying that it had sent the letters, and that anyone receiving such a letter should “remain cautious to verify the authenticity,” and contact their local police force.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.