Many citizens of Hong Kong fled to European countries and other neighboring countries, after its transfer of Chinese sovereignty due to the systematic policy of the ruling authorities to silence its critics and its violation of human rights. Citizens of Hong Kong feel compelled to flee for fear of becoming the next victims of these reprisals by the security authorities. Several famous activists, politicians, and artists mentioned their suffering in light of the lack of democracy in their countries, and the reasons that led them and others to escape from tyranny in Hong Kong and search for freedom, rule of law, and democratic values in other countries.
Interview with (Lam Wing Kee – Book shop owner):
“In 2019, Hong Kong government proposed Extradition Law Amendment Bill, I began to worry about my safety. The proposed bill would have allowed for Hong Kong to extradite criminal suspects, someone like me, to mainland China. Therefore, I can’t be there due to threats to personal safety. My consideration was not necessary to move to Taiwan, my friends in Germany asked me to go there at the very beginning, and other countries, such as the USA and Canada, as well. Before making the final decision, my friends in Taiwan called me and invite me to come to Taiwan. I considered coming here because I can still work in the book industry. I’ve been here for a business trip in the 90s, I sold the books produced by local publishers here to Hong Kong. To continue my career, I preferred to reopen the book store, and thus I decided to move to Taiwan. Certainly, the most important thing for me is to live in a democratic country like Taiwan. Hence, all the above issues are the reasons why I chose to move to Taiwan”
Interview with (Kacey Wong- Artist):
“Use this essay, anti extradition law protests this is I think back in April of 2019. And I dress up like a Chinese policeman with my friends with the plastic baton and try to scare the Hong Kong protesters by pretending I’m arresting them. And of course, they’re not afraid.”
Interview with (Kacey Wong- Artist):
“So back in March of 2021 after the 53 legislators of Hong Kong got arrested. I kind of woke up. For me, that’s a big alarm bell to indicating that Hong Kong will no longer have the law and order that we used to know to mean we’re entering a completely new phase, which is no law, no order. So that’s why I decided to leave Hong Kong.”
