Australia raises concerns with China over letters targeting Hong Kong dissident

SYDNEY — Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Tuesday that she had raised with China concerns over anonymous letters sent to Australians offering a reward for information on the whereabouts of an Australia-based Hong Kong dissident.

Some residents in Melbourne received letters late last week offering 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($130,000) for information about Kevin Yam, an Australian citizen and Hong Kong pro-democracy activist wanted by Hong Kong authorities for his role in organizing anti-government protests in 2019.

“The Australian government does not accept other governments interfering with our citizens, making anybody feel unsafe,” Wong told a news conference on Tuesday.

Local media reported that the letters were mailed from Hong Kong and contained contact details for the Hong Kong police.

Wong said it was not clear who had sent the letters and that there was no evidence that Beijing or Hong Kong were involved, but said she had raised the issue with both.

“I’ll await whatever investigations come to light, but I have made my view about Australians being targeted by the Hong Kong authorities very clear to both Hong Kong and to China,” she said, when asked if she believed the governments of Hong Kong or China were involved in the letters.

Spokespeople for the Chinese Embassy in Canberra and the Hong Kong government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Yam returned to Australia in 2022 after two decades in Hong Kong, after the Chinese territory cracked down on pro-democracy protests that brought the financial center to a standstill in 2019.

He is one of eight foreign-based activists wanted by Hong Kong for their role in organizing the protests under new laws that granted the Hong Kong government wide-ranging extrajudicial powers.

“I will continue to live my everyday life,” Yam said in a post on X in response to the letters.

“I will not voluntarily return to Hong Kong before it is free.”