A high-profile Hong Kong pro-democracy activist living in the UK has been the target of a campaign of harassment involving letters containing fake, sexually explicit images of her sent from China to her neighbours.
Carmen Lau, 30, who fled Hong Kong four years ago, told the BBC she was "shocked" as the letters, delivered to addresses in Maidenhead, included her name and images made to look like she was either naked or in underwear and offering sexual services.
"The letters had a couple of very unpleasant images, AI-generated or photo-shopped, where they put my face on those images, portraying me as a sex-worker," she said.
The existence of the letters was first reported by the Guardian.
The first she knew about the letters was when the local MP, Liberal Democrat Joshua Reynolds, called her to say he had been alerted by some of his constituents who had received them.
Ms Lau had sought sanctuary in the UK in 2021 after opposition politicians and pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong began being arrested following the imposition of a controversial new National Security Law.
Last year up to a dozen of the same neighbours in Berkshire had received letters sent from Hong Kong, and purporting to come from the police, offering a bounty payment of £95,000 to anyone who would take Ms Lau and hand her over to the Chinese embassy in London.
The new letters were sent last month from the Chinese territory of Macau, close to Hong Kong.
"I was quite shocked because last time it wasn't explicit and so unpleasant to see," Ms Lau told the BBC.
"When I was in Hong Kong pro-Beijing agents were trained to use gender-based harassment targeting pro-democracy activists," she said, "but AI technology has enhanced this sort of intimidation, it is beyond just transnational repression, as a woman it is very worrying".
Reynolds told the BBC "the government need to be very clear that this is not acceptable, we cannot have these letters sent to UK residents".
"We need to find out who sent these letters," he said, adding "officials in Beijing need to be held accountable".
Reynolds said he had raised the issue with both the Home Office and the Foreign Office.
A government spokesperson said "the safety and security of Hong Kongers in the United Kingdom is of the utmost importance".
Ms Lau said police had told her they would be investigating.
The government has previously insisted that any attempt by a foreign power to intimidate, harass, or harm individuals or communities would not be tolerated.
It has said the UK continues to raise concerns about transnational repression directly with the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities, and has publicly condemned the issuing of arrest warrants and bounties by the Hong Kong Police Force.
This must have been distressing for Lau. But I wonder what a Macau address proves. While it is conceivable that some asshole has the job of doing this stuff to torment Chinese exiles, it also occurs to me that this scenario is easy for China's geopolitical opponents to set up. Like,
1) be in Macau
2) send a letter
To me it looks risky to be a politically useful dissident resident somewhere like the UK. If the enemy state doesn't harass you, it would still be politically expediant for other parties to make you look harassed.
Just thinking out loud of course, who knows exactly what is going on here. But the recent track record of the BBC is bad when it comes to neutral and undistorted reporting. On matters like Gaza it has shown its hand. I'd take their journalism with a Lot's Wife of salt.
Looking at the track record of the CCP, harassing/intimidating political dissidents and critics in exile is very common of them. So something like this isn’t out of the ordinary
I wonder what you have in mind? I ask because China is a bit like North Korea in the Western press. You can get away with saying quite a lot of whacky stuff with very insubstantial sources. I remember a few years ago one story that the Chinese were installing spying devices in new cars. These were sim cards, the inclusion of which is (unfortunately) normal for Western manufacturers too.
The Western media reported widely on the alleged harrasment of Wang Jingyu, who said he was a dissident. He had things like emails supposedly proving the Chinese government called in bomb threats in countries like Thailand to get local political targets in trouble with the police. When NPR investigated, the whole story turned out to be fake and Jingyu a con artist. It's very unusual that NPR did the legwork here -- most outlets just took Jingyu at his word. He was dissing the Chinese Commies! Why not give him some space in the newspaper?
A famous case here in Sweden is Gui Minhai. Being disappeared from a third country and then showing up accused of crimes of publishing illegal books (what a 'crime') surely must count as China trying to affect dissidents abroad?
Yes, that's a well-known case. I remember finding it very sinister at the time. However it must be conceded that it is a he-said-she-said story; the official Chinese side is that he was a fugitive, absconding while on probation for the 2003 killing of a student while drink-driving. He gave himself up, the official story goes, in Thailand in 2015 and was released in 2017. He was re-arrested in 2018, accused not of publishing or selling illegal books but espionage. There isn't long list of such cases, the international incident with the Hong Kong booksellers looks highly unusual as time passes. The public has little to go on. I don't think we learn much from the story.
Simultaneously on Deviantart, Tumblr and Pixiv, if you search for party critic Cai Xia you will see a surprising amount of smut that's basically written through name replacement calling her a sadist
Simultaneously on Deviantart, Tumblr and Pixiv, if you search for party critic Cai Xia you will see a surprising amount of smut that's basically written through name replacement calling her a sadist
A high-profile Hong Kong pro-democracy activist living in the UK has been the target of a campaign of harassment involving letters containing fake, sexually explicit images of her sent from China to her neighbours.
Carmen Lau, 30, who fled Hong Kong four years ago, told the BBC she was "shocked" as the letters, delivered to addresses in Maidenhead, included her name and images made to look like she was either naked or in underwear and offering sexual services.
"The letters had a couple of very unpleasant images, AI-generated or photo-shopped, where they put my face on those images, portraying me as a sex-worker," she said.
The existence of the letters was first reported by the Guardian.
The first she knew about the letters was when the local MP, Liberal Democrat Joshua Reynolds, called her to say he had been alerted by some of his constituents who had received them.
Ms Lau had sought sanctuary in the UK in 2021 after opposition politicians and pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong began being arrested following the imposition of a controversial new National Security Law.
While in the UK she has frequently criticised China's Communist leadership and has spoken out about China's controversial plans to build a 'mega embassy' in London, warning that it could become a base for trans-national repression of China's critics abroad.
Last year up to a dozen of the same neighbours in Berkshire had received letters sent from Hong Kong, and purporting to come from the police, offering a bounty payment of £95,000 to anyone who would take Ms Lau and hand her over to the Chinese embassy in London.
The new letters were sent last month from the Chinese territory of Macau, close to Hong Kong.
"I was quite shocked because last time it wasn't explicit and so unpleasant to see," Ms Lau told the BBC.
"When I was in Hong Kong pro-Beijing agents were trained to use gender-based harassment targeting pro-democracy activists," she said, "but AI technology has enhanced this sort of intimidation, it is beyond just transnational repression, as a woman it is very worrying".
Reynolds told the BBC "the government need to be very clear that this is not acceptable, we cannot have these letters sent to UK residents".
"We need to find out who sent these letters," he said, adding "officials in Beijing need to be held accountable".
Reynolds said he had raised the issue with both the Home Office and the Foreign Office.
A government spokesperson said "the safety and security of Hong Kongers in the United Kingdom is of the utmost importance".
Ms Lau said police had told her they would be investigating.
The government has previously insisted that any attempt by a foreign power to intimidate, harass, or harm individuals or communities would not be tolerated.
It has said the UK continues to raise concerns about transnational repression directly with the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities, and has publicly condemned the issuing of arrest warrants and bounties by the Hong Kong Police Force.
I hear mega embassy and I imagine Khashoggi shaped dissidents.
Funny story. Funny like strange.
This must have been distressing for Lau. But I wonder what a Macau address proves. While it is conceivable that some asshole has the job of doing this stuff to torment Chinese exiles, it also occurs to me that this scenario is easy for China's geopolitical opponents to set up. Like,
1) be in Macau
2) send a letter
To me it looks risky to be a politically useful dissident resident somewhere like the UK. If the enemy state doesn't harass you, it would still be politically expediant for other parties to make you look harassed.
Just thinking out loud of course, who knows exactly what is going on here. But the recent track record of the BBC is bad when it comes to neutral and undistorted reporting. On matters like Gaza it has shown its hand. I'd take their journalism with a Lot's Wife of salt.
Looking at the track record of the CCP, harassing/intimidating political dissidents and critics in exile is very common of them. So something like this isn’t out of the ordinary
I wonder what you have in mind? I ask because China is a bit like North Korea in the Western press. You can get away with saying quite a lot of whacky stuff with very insubstantial sources. I remember a few years ago one story that the Chinese were installing spying devices in new cars. These were sim cards, the inclusion of which is (unfortunately) normal for Western manufacturers too.
The Western media reported widely on the alleged harrasment of Wang Jingyu, who said he was a dissident. He had things like emails supposedly proving the Chinese government called in bomb threats in countries like Thailand to get local political targets in trouble with the police. When NPR investigated, the whole story turned out to be fake and Jingyu a con artist. It's very unusual that NPR did the legwork here -- most outlets just took Jingyu at his word. He was dissing the Chinese Commies! Why not give him some space in the newspaper?
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/12/nx-s1-5225449/news-orgs-retract-stories-chinese-celebrity-dissident-npr-wang-jingyu
A famous case here in Sweden is Gui Minhai. Being disappeared from a third country and then showing up accused of crimes of publishing illegal books (what a 'crime') surely must count as China trying to affect dissidents abroad?
Yes, that's a well-known case. I remember finding it very sinister at the time. However it must be conceded that it is a he-said-she-said story; the official Chinese side is that he was a fugitive, absconding while on probation for the 2003 killing of a student while drink-driving. He gave himself up, the official story goes, in Thailand in 2015 and was released in 2017. He was re-arrested in 2018, accused not of publishing or selling illegal books but espionage. There isn't long list of such cases, the international incident with the Hong Kong booksellers looks highly unusual as time passes. The public has little to go on. I don't think we learn much from the story.
https://www.tumblr.com/longhairprince/744980172842893312/%E8%94%A1%E9%9C%9E%E7%94%A8%E7%9C%BC%E7%A5%9E%E7%A4%BA%E6%84%8F%E4%BB%96james%E6%90%82%E7%9D%80%E8%94%A1%E9%9C%9E%E5%9C%A8%E5%A5%B9%E7%9A%84%E8%80%B3%E8%BE%B9%E5%B0%8F%E5%A3%B0%E5%9C%B0%E8%AF%B4%E4%BA%B2%E7%88%B1%E7%9A%84%E6%88%91%E5%BC%80%E5%A7%8B%E4%BA%86%E5%A5%B9%E7%9C%8B%E7%9D%80james%E7%82%B9%E7%82%B9%E5%A4%B4?source=share
Simultaneously on Deviantart, Tumblr and Pixiv, if you search for party critic Cai Xia you will see a surprising amount of smut that's basically written through name replacement calling her a sadist
Simultaneously on Deviantart, Tumblr and Pixiv, if you search for party critic Cai Xia you will see a surprising amount of smut that's basically written through name replacement calling her a sadist