Chinese activist Zhang Xinyan, wanted by Hong Kong gov’t, finally arrives in Canada after Thailand detention

Chinese activist Zhang Xinyan, who is wanted by the Hong Kong government, has finally arrived in Canada after being detained in Thailand ahead of her scheduled flight.

Sheng Xue, a Chinese Canadian activist who has been trying to assist Zhang, said on Facebook on Wednesday that the activist arrived at Vancouver International Airport on Monday morning, Canadian time.

A wanted notice on the Hong Kong police’s website for Zhang Xinyan. Screenshot: Hong Kong Police Force.

Zhang is wanted by Hong Kong national security police after she was elected as a member of the Hong Kong Parliament mid-last year. The Hong Kong Parliament is an organisation formed by Hong Kong activists based in Canada; it was banned in the city last December.

As a Chinese dissident who practises Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that is banned in China, she fled to Thailand in 2014. Her Chinese passport was revoked by the Chinese embassy in Bangkok, prompting her to obtain refugee status from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The 55-year-old secured emergency resettlement in Canada and was meant to board a flight to Vancouver on July 8, Sheng said on X on July 9. But she was arrested by Thai authorities in May for allegedly overstaying her visa and detained at an Immigration Detention Centre.

On Sunday, Sheng – who is also a journalist and an author – said in Chinese on Facebook that, over a three-month ordeal “there were a few times that she was almost sent to [China]. Now Zhang Xinyan is safe and will be finally landing in Canada in seven hours.”

The Canadian flag. Photo: Mat Hampson, via Flickr.

Sheng sent her gratitude to Global Affairs Canada, which manages the country’s diplomatic and consular relations, as well as Chinese and Hong Kong overseas activists for their support.

Wanted by Hong Kong gov’t

The Hong Kong Parliament held unofficial polls, outside of the city, for the purpose of forming a shadow legislature to “pursue the ideal of Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong.”

Zhang Xinyan’s United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees documentation showing official refugee status. Photo: ShengXue_ca, via X.

Hong Kong police issued an arrest warrant for Zhang, alongside 14 other activists in July last year. For each wanted suspect, the police offered a bounty of HK$200,000 for information.

Zhang allegedly committed subversion, a crime under Article 23 – also known as Hong Kong’s homegrown national security law.

Separate from the 2020 Beijing-enacted security law, the homegrown Safeguarding National Security Ordinance targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, sedition, theft of state secrets and espionage. It allows for pre-charge detention of up to 16 days, and suspects’ access to lawyers may be restricted, with penalties involving up to life in prison. Article 23 was shelved in 2003 amid mass protests, remaining taboo for years. But, on March 23, 2024, it was enacted having been fast-tracked and unanimously approved at the city’s opposition-free legislature.

The law has been criticised by rights NGOs, Western states and the UN as vague, broad and “regressive.” Authorities, however, cited perceived foreign interference and a constitutional duty to “close loopholes” after the 2019 protests and unrest.