Wife of activist Lee arrested after jail visit

The wife of jailed pro-democracy leader Lee Cheuk-yan was arrested outside Stanley Prison by national security police yesterday for collusion with foreign forces. She had just visited her husband.

Elizabeth Tang Yin-ngor, 65, the former chief executive of the disbanded Confederation of Trade Unions, was taken away by officers in a seven-seater car.

They were waiting for Tang, who flew back to Hong Kong from Britain this month after being informed that Lee broke his wrist in a fall in prison.

Since returning, Tang has been visiting Lee every day and, sources said, she was arrested because she is planning to leave the city soon.

Tang was taken to Stanley police station at noon for investigation. She was escorted to a residential unit at Mei Foo Sun Chuen at 4pm to search for evidence and left in handcuffs at about 6.30 pm.

Tang and Lee wed in 1985 and cofounded CTU in 1990. Tang served as the chief executive of the union until 2011. CTU, the largest pro-democracy union with 75 affiliates and more than 100,000 members, disbanded in October 2021.

Tang flew to UK in September 2021 to see her daughter. Tang works there as the general secretary of the International Domestic Workers Federation.

Pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao reported in September 2021 that Tang served as director of Asia Monitor Resource Centre, a group that has received HK$118 million funding from institutions in the United States, Germany and Norway to sponsor the labor movement in Asia.

During the 2019 social unrest, the center received HK$8.6 million from overseas organizations, the highest in 25 years, the newspaper reported.

In response, the center said it was not a subsidiary unit of any of the organizations.

It said: "AMRC started its mission in 1968. We have been working for the labor rights of grassroots workers across Asia, particularly on occupational health and safety since then.

"For decades, we have been a civil society organization independent of any local or international organizations."

However, the center said it would cease operations in Hong Kong by September 2021 and stop receiving donations.

"It is a privilege that we are based in Hong Kong, an international city that provides efficient communication, international exchange, resources for comparative studies in law and policy and rich labor rights education, allowing us to contribute to the advancement of labor rights in the region," it said.

"Nonetheless, such a viable environment is drastically shrinking. The pressure on our operation has intensified significantly."

Ta Kung Pao said in another report in February last year that the CTU has been a "foreign agent" for years and received funds from US and European institutions.

The union received a total of HK$13 million from the American Center for International Labor Solidarity under the National Endowment for Democracy in the US from 1994 to 2003 to promote democratic movements. Some of the money was earmarked for the Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong.

Lee, former general secretary of the union, was jailed for 20 months over illegal assembly cases and has completed serving his term.

But he is still being remanded at Stanley Prison after being charged with inciting subversion over his leading role in the disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China.

Lee applied for bail in December last year, but was rejected by High Court judge Andrew Chan Hing-wai, who believed Lee might endanger national security again.

Chan said Lee had sold his flat while his wife Tang and daughter had left Hong Kong.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com