Wong's political-asylum bid rejected by US, book claims

Michael Shum

A new book by American journalists has revealed that jailed activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung had not been granted political asylum by the US before the national security law was implemented on June 30, 2020.

The book Among the Braves, by former Hong Kong correspondents Shibani Mahtani of the Washington Post and Timothy McLaughlin of The Atlantic, was published Tuesday.

The book suggests that Wong, the former secretary general of opposition political group Demosisto, who had his passport confiscated due to another case, met with US consulate members in 2020 hoping to enter the diplomatic mission in Central.

The two journalists said Wong hoped to enter the consulate and seek political asylum like the Chinese civil rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who was allowed into the US embassy in 2012 in Beijing and later left for the US.

However, the meeting with Wong took place in a consulate office without consular assistance just across the road from the actual consulate on Garden Road.

"I do not want to leave. I want to go to the US consulate," the two journalists quoted Wong as saying near the end of the meeting.

But consulate members told Wong that US laws do not allow people applying for political asylum outside US soil.

The book also mentions that Wong's friend, Jeffrey Ngo Cheuk-hin, who was in the US at that time, sent an email on Wong's behalf to the then US secretary of state Mike Pompeo requesting to grant Wong political asylum.

Pompeo met with his aides within the next 48 hours to discuss Wong's request.

As the US already decided to close down China's consulate in Houston, citing efforts to steal trade secrets, the American officials were worried that China would close down the US consulate in Hong Kong as retaliation if they found out Wong was hiding in the consulate.

Pompeo also considered secretly transporting Wong out of Hong Kong by water but decided against it, as it would turn into a major international affair if they were intercepted by China's coast guards.

The book also points out that Pompeo's aides were not on the same page regarding the final decision.

Former Demosisto chairman Nathan Law Kwun-chung secretly met with Pompeo in July of the same year. He also touched on Wong's situation, but that did not alter the decision.

The book mentions that the then US president Donald Trump "liked" the idea of rolling out "lifeboat" immigration schemes for Hongkongers, allowing them to migrate to the US and become "excellent Americans." But the idea fell through under the strong objection of Trump's cabinet members.

Willy Fu Kin-chi, Hong Kong Legal Exchange Foundation's executive council vice chairman, said it is true that US laws require a person to be on US soil before allowing them to seek political asylum.

"If what the authors said are true, we can see how Wong became a forsaken pawn by the US," Fu added.

michael.shum@singtaonewscorp.com