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When Hong Kong administration chief John Lee appeared before the press on Tuesday, the 61-year-old made it abundantly clear how seriously he took the matter: “We will pursue the criminals for life until they surrender.”

The “criminals” are eight supporters of the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement who now live in exile in Canada, Australia, the United States and Britain. The former members of parliament and lawyers are accused of separatism and subversion of state order, among other things. In fact, they only participated in demonstrations critical of Beijing.

On Monday, security officials offered a HK$1 million bounty to the eight residents of Hong Kong. That is the equivalent of nearly 115,000 Swiss francs. The amount is especially notable because Hong Kong offers only a fraction of it, even against fugitive murderers and rapists.

But since the former British crown colony introduced the controversial national security law three years ago, Hong Kong’s former rule of law has come to an end anyway. Under pressure from the Chinese central government in Beijing, the authorities have punished all political opposition: since then, critical newspapers have had to close, politicians resigned and protesters have served long prison sentences.

The fact that Hong Kong authorities are now placing a bounty on exiled critics is another level of escalation. A Washington State Department spokesperson spoke unequivocally of a “dangerous precedent that threatens the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people around the world.” Similar critical words came from the governments of Britain, Australia and Canada.

A “purely internal Chinese affair”

The Chinese government, on the other hand, sees the issue as a purely “domestic matter”. As Beijing Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning announced on Tuesday, the world must “respect Hong Kong’s rule of law” and “stop providing protection to criminals.”

At the end of June, the Chinese state newspaper “Ta Kung Pao” published an editorial that reads like a warning to democracy activists abroad: “Don’t think you can do whatever you want abroad. As long as there is even the slightest sign of transgression you will not be able to escape the law.”

According to Peter Dahlin, head of the NGO Safeguard Defenders, the prosecution by the Hong Kong authorities has little chance of success from a purely legal point of view. Those affected already know that they can no longer travel to a country that has signed an extradition treaty with China. “Ultimately, Hong Kong and Beijing are shooting themselves in the foot again,” Dahlin notes.

But the intimidating message of bounty hunting has yet to catch on. Because while some human rights activists wear every threat from the Chinese government like a badge of honor, they lead many other Chinese abroad to retreat into private life – especially if they don’t want to risk their relationships with their relatives.

Chinese nationalists, on the other hand, feel increasingly emboldened to implement their home country’s security requirements themselves. British human rights activist Finn Lau, one of eight Hong Kongers facing prosecution, has already received screenshots of Chinese nationalists openly discussing his abduction. (aargauerzeitung.ch)