“So far, I have kept a low profile on my whereabouts in order to mitigate the risks,” he added.
“In this strange country, I started planning the life ahead of me. There are still so many uncertainties, ”he wrote.
He said he had spoken to reporters from the apartment where he was staying, adding, “I always have a message: Hong Kongers will never give up. We are not broken. On the contrary, we are well equipped to face the next difficult battle. “
Law was a founding member of Demosisto, a pro-democracy party that was dissolved the same day, Beijing imposed its new security law on the semi-autonomous business center.The party campaigned for democracy and for the Hong Kong people to have more say in how the city is run, but they did not advocate independence.
The law and other prominent party members such as former student leader Joshua Wong were slandered by Beijing, often described as “black hands” and separatists who plotted with foreigners to undermine China.
Law and Wong both became household names as student leaders during the 2014 Democracy Demonstrations.
Two days after Beijing’s new security law was imposed on the city, Law announced that he had left for good but kept his destination secret.
The day before, he had given video testimony to a congressional audience in Washington during which he had shouted the slogan of popular protest “Free Hong Kong. Revolution of our time. ”
Authorities say the slogan now violates the new security law.
Beijing’s legislation bypassed the Hong Kong legislature and its contents were kept secret until the law was promulgated. It targets subversion, sedition, terrorism and foreign collusion with up to prison life.
But its broad formulation – like a ban on encouraging hatred towards the Chinese government – has shaken fear in a city where locals are used to being able to express their opinions.
Under the law, China has claimed jurisdiction in certain serious cases and allowed its intelligence apparatus to openly locate in the city for the first time. On the continent, national security laws are widely used to crush dissent.
China says the law is necessary to restore stability after huge and often violent protests for democracy last year.
Britain considers security law a violation of the Beijing accord to let Hong Kong maintain key civil liberties – as well as legislative and judicial autonomy – until 2047, under “one country, two systems ”
London has angered Beijing by announcing its intention to grant expanded immigration rights to some three million Hong Kongers eligible for British Overseas National status.
China has committed to respond.
