More than 10 Hong Kong residents, including an activist charged under the territory’s punitive national security legislation, have been detained by China’s coast guard while trying to flee to Taiwan, according to reports.
China’s coast guard on Wednesday evening released a statement on Sina Weibo saying that on Sunday at 9am, authorities in Guangdong Province tracked down a speedboat suspected of an illegal border crossing.
The notice said that more than 10 people had been arrested, including two suspects surnamed Li (李) and Deng (鄧).
Radio Free Asia and HK01 have reported that 12 young people were on the boat, headed for Taiwan, a distance of about 600km, where many democracy activists have fled after the implementation of the new sweeping National Security Law.
Citing unnamed sources, the outlets said that activist Andy Li (李宇軒) was among those arrested.
On Thursday afternoon Hong Kong Police Commissioner Chris Tang (鄧炳強) told reporters that he had heard the reports, but the force had had no information about the arrests, and were seeking information from the mainland authorities.
Li — who has worked on raising global awareness of the situation in Hong Kong — was previously charged with breaching Hong Kong’s controversial new national security legislation and released on bail.
The Mainland Affairs Council on Thursday said that people from Hong Kong should follow existing legal channels if they wish to move to Taiwan.
Council Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said that if people from Hong Kong or Macau need to seek Taiwan’s assistance for political reasons, they should follow the existing mechanism under the Act Governing Relations with Hong Kong and Macau (香港澳門關係條例).
According to the coordinates released by China’s coast guard, the boat was seized in the South China Sea about 78km from Hong Kong Island.
It is not clear whether the arrested individuals would be sent back to Hong Kong or face charges in China.
The Chinese coast guard said in its statement that the case was still “under investigation.”
Under Chinese law, they could face up to one year in prison for illegal border crossing.
Additional reporting by CNA
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