HONG KONG — The Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Regulation mentioned on Monday that he had utilized for political asylum in Britain, a petition that can seemingly inflame tensions with China if granted.
Mr. Regulation, 27, fled to London in June, simply earlier than a brand new nationwide safety regulation gave Hong Kong sweeping powers to quash dissent after months of fiery anti-government protests.
Mr. Regulation rose to prominence in Hong Kong as a pupil chief in 2014, calling for freer elections within the semiautonomous Chinese language territory by way of road demonstrations and sit-ins. Two years later, at age 23, he turned town’s youngest elected lawmaker, although he was disqualified the next 12 months over altering his oath for workplace.
Mr. Regulation was jailed in 2017 on prices of inciting the road protests three years earlier. His shut ally, Joshua Wong, was sentenced to greater than a 12 months in jail this month over a protest in 2019 and faces further prices over his activism.
“I hope that my presence can sound an alarm to remind individuals simply how a lot of a hazard the C.C.P. poses to our shared democratic values,” Mr. Regulation wrote in an op-ed article saying his asylum bid in The Guardian on Monday, referring to the Chinese language Communist Get together.
Mr. Regulation’s petition for asylum in Britain comes at a time when China is making an attempt to forge new commerce alliances with the UK and the European Union as its confrontational relationship with the US isn’t anticipated to considerably enhance beneath a Biden administration. The USA has imposed journey bans and financial sanctions on a number of high-level authorities officers over the persevering with crackdown on the opposition in Hong Kong.
In July, Chinese language state media accused Mr. Regulation and 5 different Hong Kong activists of colluding with overseas forces and listed them as fugitives wished beneath the safety regulation, which applies to offenses dedicated exterior China. In October, the Hong Kong police issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Regulation over a June protest he attended earlier than leaving town.
Mr. Regulation, who didn’t disclose his location till weeks after leaving Hong Kong due to considerations for his security, mentioned that he was ready for a life in exile and that he had reduce ties together with his household to keep away from implicating them.
“Who can get pleasure from freedom from concern within the face of China’s highly effective political machine?” he tweeted in July. “What we are able to select is how to reply to this concern.”
As Hong Kong protesters fled town, China warned different international locations towards providing asylum to what some officers described as “violent criminals.”
In October, China’s ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, instructed Canadian officers to contemplate the “good well being and security” of Canadian passport holders in Hong Kong earlier than granting asylum to Hong Kong protesters.
Regardless of China’s indignant warnings, Britain has moved towards permitting practically three million individuals from its former territory to stay and work within the nation on a path towards citizenship. Britain’s inside minister, Priti Patel, met with Mr. Regulation on Dec. 10 and promised to guard the freedoms of individuals from the previous British colony.