Hong Kong Natives Stand in UK Local Elections
At least 18 Hong Kong natives are running in local elections across the UK. They are hoping both to better their new homes and help those still be oppressed back in Hong Kong.
Hong Kongers Turn to UK Politics
REPORTER:
Back in Hong Kong, Yu-Wing Wong was a farmer known for his organic crops. But as Hong Kong changed, with tightening laws and shrinking freedoms, he joined around 200,000 other Hong Kongers in migrating to the UK.
REPORTER:
He still farms on an allotment in suburban London — but these days, he has a new calling: politics.
REPORTER:
On Thursday, he’ll be standing as a Liberal Democratic candidate for Cricket Green in the Merton Council, London — a part of nationwide local elections. He thinks Hong Kong natives like himself should get more involved in British politics. Both to solve problems in their new home and to help those back in their old one.
Yu Wing Wong (LIB DEM COUNCIL CANDIDATE):
When we talk about Hong Kong here in the UK you get the feeling Britons want to help [Hong Kong] but don’t. But if we [Hong Kong natives] have our own councillors and MPs we can make our voices heard here in the UK and fight to get [help for Hong Kong].
REPORTER:
At least 18 candidates in these local elections come from Hong Kong — a record. And for some, there’s an urgency to their campaigning.
REPORTER:
Labour candidate for Queensbury, Brent Council Simon Cheng used to work for the British Consulate in Hong Kong — only to flee to the UK for his own safety. China arrested him during a trip to the Mainland — and he says he was interrogated and physically abused. He is still actively wanted in Hong Kong.
REPORTER:
And so, while bread-and-butter issues like the state of the local pavement are on his mind, so too is the possibility of an elected position as a source of personal safety and a chance at countering China’s long reach — even well beyond its borders.
Simon Cheng (LABOUR COUNCIL CANDIDATE):
If [a Hong Kong native] serves as a representative of the people it means we have a level of acceptance here. I think this way, we can do more to resist [China’s] big external propaganda and cross-border judicial repression.
REPORTER:
These Hong Kong natives hope even a local council position will show that they have really arrived in the UK — while also giving them some tools to help those still faced with oppression.
