WASHINGTON: A prominent Hong Kong activist in exile in the United States said a court ruling back in Hong Kong to imprison her father for eight months has only made her more determined to fight for the territory and its people.
“I think obviously the (Hong Kong) government wants to use guilt, wants to use a lot of emotions to weight me down, but I’ve found my way to really find my calling in activism for Hong Kong,” said Anna Kwok, who is wanted by the Hong Kong government for her pro-democracy activism.
“So I’m not going to back down. I’m just going to be more strategic with more long-term thinking and be more dedicated to the Hong Kong cause,” she said.
Kwok spoke with the Associated Press on Friday (Feb 27), one day after a Hong Kong court jailed her 69-year-old father, Kwok Yin-sang, for attempting to withdraw roughly US$11,000 from her insurance policy.
Her father bought the policy when she was a toddler, and she gained control of it when she reached the age of 18. In 2025, he sought to terminate the policy and withdraw the money, the court heard. He was arrested and accused of trying to deal with funds belonging to an “absconder”.
It was the first case targeting a family member of a pro-democracy advocate wanted by Hong Kong to have been brought under a 2024 national security law.
Anna Kwok, who is the executive director of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, called the sentence “ridiculous” and said it brought home the personal costs of her activism.
“I did go through this journey of finding out what activism means to me, now with this added layer of … very real personal cost that is not faced by me but faced by my family,” she said.
