Red Net | Are Protesters Always Strong? Exiled Hong Konger Carmen Lau Reveals Aftermath of CCP's Transnational Repression: Speaking Out Isn't Weakness!

On July 1st, China's "Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress" came into effect, seen by the outside world as a legal pretext for the CCP to extend its ideological control globally. Five days later, political commentator Yabita Akio was violently attacked in Taiwan, with the Mainland Affairs Council determining it as CCP transnational repression, with initial investigations pointing to Hong Kong triad "Winsome and Harmonious." From threatening letters, stalking, Deepfake pornographic images to fists, the methods vary, but the goal is the same: to make you physically and mentally exhausted, socially isolated, and ultimately lose the ability to continue working. This special report, through five cross-country interviews, starts from the incident of Yabita being attacked by triads in Taiwan, extending to exiled Hong Konger Carmen Lau in the UK, New Zealand-based independent journalist Mao Ke, Canadian MP Gwen Lee, and senior advisor to Human Rights Watch in Thailand, Pasuk, to see how pervasive the CCP's systematic repression is? What are these "high-risk groups under transnational repression" facing?

Carmen Lau, a former district councilor wanted by the Hong Kong government and exiled overseas, currently resides in the UK and is one of the most severely affected by CCP transnational repression. At the end of last month, she accepted an interview with the Wind Media English station, stating that since last year, her neighbors received reward letters with her personal information, encouraging people to take her to the Chinese embassy to claim the reward, and later even producing Deepfake pornographic images to harass her, causing her much distress.

Carmen mentioned that she knew other Chinese dissidents had also been harassed with Deepfake porn due to their female identity, "but this should be the first time it happened to a social movement activist in the Hong Kong community." She believes that this kind of transnational repression targeting Chinese dissidents should use different methods for different groups, such as Deepfake porn mostly occurring on female targets.

After her first address was exposed last year and she was threatened with leaflets, she has since moved several times and is more cautious about protecting her personal information; however, even with enhanced privacy, she can avoid harassment in real life, but online attacks never stop, "I don't have a more permanent residence now, I keep moving, so they might find it harder to harass me in the real world or find my address, so they have more harassment online...... almost every day there are a huge number of phishing emails, pretending to be Meta, pretending to be other companies trying to extract my personal information like this." Her email was once almost forcibly hacked, so she can only increase network security protection and keep thinking of ways to build the "security wall" higher.

The problem of online army comments bullying and cyberbullying, which dissidents often receive, has become something Carmen is used to and does not pay much attention to in these security-threatening harassment methods, "this kind of attack no longer affects me."

But for bullying and harassing comments that can be indifferent, being forced to adapt to the state of frequent moves, and dealing with hacker risks online, Carmen's life has actually been made tense by this kind of transnational repression. After her address was exposed last year, even though she has moved several times, she is still very sensitive to the sounds outside, and any noise will make her tense, "I am currently staying in and rarely go out." In addition, she is also afraid of phone notification sounds and vibration sounds, and call or message notifications are also a source of stress for her, so her phone is often in "Do Not Disturb" mode.

Are democracy activists always strong and brave? The overlooked issue of mental health Actually, when Carmen was asked about the spiritual impact of transnational repression, she answered quite hesitantly and admitted that she rarely talks about this aspect, "In more active people in democratic activities, they are less willing to talk about the spiritual harm brought by transnational repression, because it will make people think that this kind of transnational repression is effective, speaking out seems like showing weakness, so many times they will not talk about this matter. If you don't talk about it, others may think you are strong, you are brave, but in fact, there are some emotions or spiritual pressure that you cannot vent."

"Now I speak out, I don't think it's showing weakness," Carmen said, she believes this is something that must be faced, and something to resist, "I have to deal with it seriously, so that I can continue in my daily work and current advocacy activities." Carmen believes that in addition to wanting to bring back political fugitives overseas to China, China's other goal is to bring about a series of silencing effects through harassment and threats, these overseas dissidents are socially isolated and difficult to continue advocacy activities.

She said that CCP's transnational repression not only puts pressure on overseas democratic activities, gatherings, and demonstrations, but may also make ordinary community activities tense and difficult to build good interpersonal networks, unable to fully trust strangers they just met. Carmen pointed out that Yuan Songbiao, who was previously sentenced for spy activities, had indeed infiltrated the Hong Kong community, and she had heard that there were indeed democratic advocates who had contacted him, "This proves that the CCP or Hong Kong's infiltration work in overseas communities is very active, so we have to be very careful when cooperating with others, or even just making simple friends."

CCP infiltration is everywhere, making normal social interaction difficult In June, the UK court sentenced two dual Chinese-British nationals to 8 and 10 years in prison for spying on local Hong Kong dissidents for Beijing, setting a precedent in the area. The two are 66-year-old retired Hong Kong police officer and former administrative manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, Chung Biu "Bill" Yuen, and 41-year-old former British border force member and officer Chi Leung "Peter" Wai.

Carmen said, "Besides the people I knew before, I actually haven't made many new friends, and even the people I knew before are not in contact now." She pointed out that it is not only difficult to make friends with Hong Kong people, but also difficult to let her guard down with ordinary British or European people, "In fact, the CCP or Hong Kong will also hire local British people as spies, so if someone suddenly wants to be friends with me, I am really very careful and actually don't pay much attention to it." Even when participating in activities unrelated to politics, she always uses a pseudonym and hides her identity.

Understanding the purpose of CCP's transnational repression also makes Carmen pay more attention to taking care of her physical and mental state, only in this way can the road of doing democratic advocacy overseas go further. Carmen said that she has sought external help, including medical methods, and is currently stabilizing herself through extensive reading, "Immersing myself in the world of text can detach me from reality and reduce the time I spend on social networks."

How to prevent CCP's cooperation with triads? In Taiwan, Japanese-Taiwanese political commentator Yabita Akio was violently attacked in Taichung at the beginning of July by a man holding a Hong Kong passport. Some Taiwanese media pointed out that after preliminary investigations, this attack was related to the Hong Kong triad "Winsome and Harmonious," which was the perpetrator of the white-shirted men in the "Yuanlang 721" subway violence incident during the 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition movement.

Regarding the high possibility of CCP cooperating with triads and adopting gray methods to attack targets, Carmen pointed out that this is not the first time, as there have also been people with triad backgrounds harassing people in London demonstrations before, so whether CCP's cooperation with triads will bring greater risks to overseas dissidents, she believes, "It depends on the response of local law enforcement agencies or the government."

The UK has stricter gun control, so the relevant danger level may be lower, but in the US, in addition to the gun problem, triads have other violent weapons, such as wearing tiger ring-like accessories, which have injured demonstrators before.

Regarding how to prevent it, Carmen believes that because it is difficult to completely prove that these triads are colluding with the CCP, it may all depend on how much the government understands this kind of transnational repression. Perhaps it can start with immigration control. She pointed out that based on her personal interaction with British police, over the past year, law enforcement agencies have had more knowledge of the CCP's transnational repression methods, and the government also issued a guide on transnational repression last year, although the content is very basic, but at least there has been progress. And after the spy case, the court also had more knowledge of related cases.

UK launched Foreign Influence Registration Scheme last year, but missed China However, this kind of prevention still has loopholes. The UK government launched the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) on July 1 last year, including Russia and Iran in the "enhanced control" level, but China was not listed. Carmen pointed out that the UK hopes to have more cooperation with China in terms of economy and trade, "The CCP is best at using money or trade as a means to control and influence geopolitics, and the UK chose to yield to China at this time."

Precisely because of the UK government's attitude, she is also quite pessimistic about the currently suspended "China Super Embassy" expansion plan. The UK government has approved China to build the largest diplomatic facility in Europe, covering about 2 hectares, at the former Royal Mint site next to the Tower of London in the bustling area of London. This plan has been strongly opposed by the outside world, and critics are concerned that this super embassy may become a stronghold for the CCP in the UK and even Europe.