Former Hong Kong lawmaker Sixtus Baggio Leung has left Hong Kong, is seeking asylum in the US
- A group of activists in exile has said Leung left the city at the end of last month after facing ‘profound political persecution’
- Speaking to the media from Washington, Leung has called for increased sanctions on China over its treatment of Hong Kong
Former lawmaker Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang has left Hong Kong for the United States, where he is seeking asylum.
Haven Assistance, a group formed by activists in exile, revealed on Friday evening that Leung had departed for the US on November 30 after facing “profound political persecution” in Hong Kong.
“Mr Leung sees the asylum as a new starting point for Hong Kong’s democratic cause,” the group said in a statement on Facebook.
“Currently Mr Leung has no issues with his health, and his well-being is basically being taken care of,” the statement added, noting he would hold an online press conference on Saturday.
A month after the ceremony, on November 2, Leung and fellow disqualified lawmaker Yau Wai-ching stormed a council meeting in an attempt to retake their oaths. Leung was jailed for four weeks over the incident on charges of taking part in an unlawful assembly, and served his time in September.
In an interview with Reuters, Leung said the United States should roll out punitive sanctions against mainland China by targeting the city’s financial sector, which the activist characterised as the nation’s cash cow. The hope, he said, was that Beijing would come back to the negotiating table to answer for its crackdown on the financial hub.
More Hongkongers seeking asylum overseas
“There’s a stronger way to respond to China’s repression: Hong Kong’s financial system, which is one of the ATMs of China right now – if we can do something on this, it will be much more powerful,” Leung said from Washington.
Hui, formerly of the Democratic Party, resigned along with the rest of his fellow pan-democratic lawmakers last month in protest against Beijing’s move to oust four of their peers.
Haven Assistance’s co-founders are former detained British consulate employee Simon Cheng Man-kit, prominent student activist Brian Leung Kai-ping, bookseller Lam Wing-kee and pro-independence activist Ray Wong Toi-yeung, who was granted political asylum by Berlin in 2018.
Additional reporting by Reuters
