China Will Hunt You Down

Human-rights lawyers have long faced persecution in mainland China, and leaving the country is no guarantee of safety. The arrest in Laos of attorney Lu Siwei is the latest example of Beijing’s attempts to export its tyranny.

Authorities in Laos detained Mr. Lu in late July as he transited from China en route to reunite with his wife and daughter, who have settled in the U.S. Laos borders China and is sensitive to Beijing’s political demands.

The Laotian embassy in London says Mr. Lu was arrested on suspicion of using fraudulent travel documents and will be deported if found guilty. But the 29 Principles, a British group that supports lawyers facing oppression, says Mr. Lu’s Chinese passport and Laotian and U.S. visas were valid. Mr. Lu’s real crime is daring to take politically sensitive cases.

His clients include two Hong Kongers captured in 2020. They and 10 others had tried to flee Hong Kong by boat weeks after Beijing imposed a national-security law that outlaws dissent. In 2021 the Sichuan Provincial Department of Justice revoked Mr. Lu’s law license, and he’s also endured harassment and constant surveillance. He will face worse if Laos hands him back to China.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party continues to menace Hong Kong dissidents in exile. Last month authorities put a bounty of HK$1 million on eight of them, including Anna Kwok, the 26-year-old executive director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council. The South China Morning Postreports that last week Hong Kong police detained and questioned Ms. Kwok’s parents.

Hong Kong authorities have also questioned family members of former lawmakers Nathan Law and Dennis Kwok, businessman and democracy activist Elmer Yuan, and labor activist Christopher Mung, all of whom also face bounties.

Hong Kong chief executive John Lee has threatened that the eight should “live in fear” forever as the government will “exhaust all means” to pursue them abroad. Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong’s great pro-democracy newspaperman, refused to flee and now faces up to life in prison on trumped up national-security charges. Next month will mark his thousandth day behind bars.

The world knows how China oppresses its own people. What it needs to understand better is that Beijing wants to impose that oppression against anyone who dares to criticize the Communist regime anywhere in the world.