HRF is deeply concerned over reports that the Chinese Communist Party is using tax measures to target Hong Kong dissidents in the UK. HRF urges the UK government to counter transnational repression and strengthen protection for activists.

Christopher Mung Siu-tat, executive director of UK-based Hong Kong Labour Rights Monitor, received letters that claimed he owed additional taxes on his income for years he lived in Hong Kong, including for a business he never registered. The Hong Kong police placed a cash bounty on Siu-tat and several other exiled activists in 2023.

The regime often uses financial means to silence and intimidate activists. Dissidents living in exile face heightened pressure, including threats of arrest, passport cancellations, and harassment of family members in Hong Kong.

HRF has examined the range of tactics authoritarian regimes use to target dissidents abroad. Learn more.