Singapore yesterday said that it had refused entry to Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law (羅冠聰) over the weekend as his presence would not be in the city-state’s “national interests.”
The activist, who holds a UK refugee travel document, said that he had been denied entry when he tried to pass immigration after his plane landed at Singapore’s Changi Airport from San Francisco on Saturday.
He said he was sent back on Sunday on a plane to San Francisco.
Photo: AFP
“Law’s entry into and presence in the country would not be in Singapore’s national interests,” the Singaporean Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement.
“A visa holder is still subject to further checks at point of entry into the country. That is what happened with Nathan Law,” it said.
Law had fled from Hong Kong in 2020 and the police there issued a warrant for his arrest for offenses under the National Security Law, the ministry said.
Upon arrival in Singapore, Law was “referred for questioning, and immigration and security assessment” at the airport, it said.
“Law was then refused entry. He was placed on the earliest flight back to San Francisco on 28 September 2025,” it added.
Law said he was granted a Singapore visa to attend a “closed-door, invitation-only event” and expected to be allowed in.
“I received the visa around three weeks prior to departure... I submitted all information, including the invitation to the event in the application,” Law said. “I attempted to go through immigration, but I was detained, despite having a valid visa to enter the country.”
“I was not told why I was detained,” he said, adding that he spent “roughly 14 hours” in Singapore.
He said he thought Singapore’s decision to deny him entry was “political, although I am unsure whether external forces, such as the PRC, are involved, directly or indirectly,” referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Asked about the case yesterday, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it was not familiar with the situation, but that countries had the right to manage their own immigration processes.
“The person you mentioned is an anti-China, destabilizing force in Hong Kong who is lawfully wanted by the Hong Kong police,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) said.
Law was one of the student leaders of the 2014 “Umbrella movement” in Hong Kong, the sometimes violent pro-democracy protests which Chinese officials saw as a challenge to their rule over the territory.
He has lived in exile in the UK and the US since fleeing Hong Kong after Beijing imposed the security law on the territory.
Singapore has refused entry to foreign activists in the past, saying the city-state cannot be used as a platform for political activities.
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