Media outlets across east Asia were reporting that Cheung, who had just finished her A-levels, had been declared a threat to national security by officials in Hong Kong. There was an offer of HK$1m (£94,000) to anyone who could assist in her arrest or capture.

Friends said: ‘Sorry, you are a criminal in Hong Kong now so we can’t be associated with you.’ Even friends in Leeds stopped seeing me

  • Kapirotto@lemmy.ml
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    6 hours ago

    It’s crazy how, here in Brazil, we kind of have to chose now if we stay besides USA or China… We hate what Trump is doing to us, but at the same time, our partners in BRICS are not a bed of roses either… It seems the bipolarization of the world is coming to its max now, again, after cold war…

    • Dr. Moose@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      our partners in BRICS

      There are no BRICS partners. The union literally does nothing but yap contrarian lmao

    • perviouslyiner@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      Did it make a difference when China built that big container port in Peru and started connecting it with railways to the Atlantic coast?

  • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Holy shit, she was just a kid speaking out about her experiences! I hope she can stay safe in the UK and live a normal life. Poor gal.

      • impudentmortal@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        In 2022, a pro-democracy protester demonstrating on the pavement was dragged into China’s consulate in Manchester before being beaten up in a “barbaric” attack.

        Did you not read the article? It’s already happened at least once. Even if this attack wasn’t from Chinese officials, pro-democracy protesters still face danger and harassment.

      • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
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        1 day ago

        Sadly, it wouldn’t be surprising if they are already there. The International Consortium of Investigating Journalists (Panama Papers etc.) even has a specific hashtag for these operations, #ChinaTargets. https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-targets/china-transnational-repression-dissent-around-world/

        Half of the targets interviewed by ICIJ and its media partners said the harassment extended to family members back home, who suffered intimidation and were interrogated by police or state security officials one or more times. Several victims told ICIJ that their family members in China or Hong Kong were harassed by police shortly after they had participated in protests or public events overseas. Sixty said they believed they had been followed or were targets of surveillance or spying by Chinese officials or their proxies; 27 said they were victims of an online smear campaign, and 19 said they had received suspicious messages or experienced hacking attempts, including by state actors. Some said their bank accounts in China and Hong Kong had been frozen. Officers from both the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of State Security — two of the Chinese agencies with intelligence capacity — were responsible for intimidating some of the targets and their families, the testimonies show. Twenty-two people said they received physical threats or had been assaulted by civilian CCP supporters.

      • marsza@lemmy.cafe
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        1 day ago

        lol. Yes they are. They’re already there as normal people who are forced to obey when called on.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 day ago

    My partner is a refugee / enemy of her former state for advocating democracy. Her friend was on the phone with her (the friend’s) brother when he was kidnapped and disappeared. Another of her friends was targeted in his home (abroad) and has to keep his travel plans secret. And that country is nowhere near as powerful as China. This woman is extremely brave.

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    Her family, says Cheung, “knew I was someone who doesn’t know how to shut up. They didn’t want either of us to end up in prison for speaking our mind, because my mum said, ‘You are kind of nobody. No one would know that you’re in prison.’”

    Good on the family for leaving the country.

  • marsza@lemmy.cafe
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    1 day ago

    ML: China best, this is fake.

    Tomorrow, she is missing…

    ML: She is lying. She is faking. Western propaganda

    Next week dead in a ditch…

    ML: Suicide by gunshot to back of head.

    • Victor@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      I have an acquaintance who is Chinese, and the propaganda really got to him. I keep suggesting things maybe aren’t always really as they might seem. But no, they certainly are, and China is better than every other country in every way.

      • marsza@lemmy.cafe
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        3 hours ago

        I have a friend who is actually from China (and now in the states), and they talk so much shit about China, it’s crazy. The mind control is deep.

      • icelimit@lemmy.ml
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        6 hours ago

        On a material front, it does look that way, given that China does manufacture pretty much everything.

    • Slotos@feddit.nl
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      1 day ago

      That’s a bit too humane for tankies. I’d rather expect „she’s a bitch and deserves to die” from the get go.