The United Kingdom has seen a flow of tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents since 2021, including prominent pro-democracy activists, but they have not forgotten about China's surveillance of them. According to The New York Times.

China imposed a strict national security law in Hong Kong in 2020, giving authorities in the former British colony broad powers to suppress dissent.

In response to the law, Britain introduced a new visa for Hong Kong citizens, and since then, at least 180,000 people have moved from Hong Kong to the UK through the visa program. Many of them have rebuilt their lives in Britain and continue to engage in the pro-democracy movement from afar.

Among them is Simon Cheng, a pro-democracy activist who was arrested in China in 2019 and was tortured. After his release, he fled to Britain and sought asylum.

Last year, Hong Kong authorities put out a reward for information leading to the arrest of Cheng and other activists. This month, three men in London were charged with gathering intelligence on behalf of Hong Kong, and one of the accused, Matthew Tricket, was found dead under mysterious circumstances.

These events have raised concerns among the larger Hong Kong community in Britain. Thomas Fung, a political activist, hopes that these arrests will be the start of a coordinated British effort to combat Chinese repression, as many former Hong Kong residents in Britain feel threatened by China's surveillance of them.

Thomas Fung, 32, hopes that the recent arrests will mark the beginning of a coordinated effort by the British government to combat Chinese repression. Fung said, "We always knew there was some sort of intelligence or spying on people here."

Fung moved to England in 2012 to study accounting, and after graduating, he got a job in Oxford and decided to stay. With the escalation of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, he felt the need to support the movement, participating in solidarity protests in London and volunteering to help new arrivals from Hong Kong.

He founded the organization "Bonham Tree Aid" to support political prisoners in Hong Kong. When he first saw the name of his organization mentioned in a pro-Beijing newspaper, Fung realized there was no turning back.

The fear of being targeted by Beijing is not limited to political activists; it extends to families seeking better education and young professionals looking for work opportunities. In the Sutton area of South London, known as "Little Hong Kong," about 4,000 former Hong Kong residents have settled since 2021.

Richard Choi, 42, came to London in 2008 and runs a Facebook group for new arrivals in Sutton. He carefully obscures the faces of the community in the photos he shares, as many are afraid of being surveilled. Choi said, "I feel they are very nervous or have lost confidence." Concerns have grown after a law was passed in Hong Kong known as Article 23, which prescribes penalties, including life imprisonment for political crimes, and extends to Hong Kong residents abroad.

Vivian Wong, who moved to London in 2015 and opened a restaurant in 2021, says she is proud of her Hong Kong identity and continues to oppose Communist rule despite the risks.

The restaurant serves popular Hong Kong dishes and has become a gathering place for diaspora members to support one another and hold events.

Katherine Li, 28, moved to London in 2018 to study theater and began organizing solidarity protests in 2019. Initially, she used an alias online to hide her identity, but when some of her political artwork gained popularity, she felt she could no longer hide and began using her real name.