Former Hong Kong Leader Threatens Falun Gong Practitioners in Finland

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Former Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying threatened a group of Falun Gong practitioners in Finland as they collected signatures to oppose ongoing human rights abuses in China, heightening concerns from the persecuted faith group that their safety is still at risk even after escaping the country.

“Once we have your names, we can immediately look you up once we are back. One by one,” Leung said in a recording reviewed by The Epoch Times.

The incident took place on Aug. 13 in Helsinki’s Sibelius Park, a popular tourist attraction where a Falun Gong information booth has drawn thousands in the past few months.

Leung, Hong Kong’s chief executive from 2012 to 2017, is now the vice chairman of China’s top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Leung presides over a powerful apparatus tasked with influence and intelligence operations abroad to advance Beijing’s agenda inside and outside of China, lending political weight to his remarks.

Leung walked up to the booth with his wife, Regina Leung Tong Ching-yee, and two other men.

One Falun Gong practitioner, who asked for anonymity over safety concerns, said he greeted Leung with “welcome to Helsinki.”

Leung proceeded to accost them with questions and dismissed the persecution as nonexistent, according to the practitioners and recordings shared with The Epoch Times.

Multiple Falun Gong practitioners present during the Aug. 13 encounter had escaped China after enduring years of harassment, surveillance, and other forms of abuse.

The man who welcomed Leung earlier was one of them. For refusing to give up his belief, he lost his job and went into hiding for eight years. Police officers had intimidated his family only months ago following another harassment incident at the park.

Leung’s political position and history of hostility toward Falun Gong worried the practitioners and human rights watchers.

Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, said the Helsinki park episode marks “part of a larger trend of Chinese Communist Party officials and affiliates attempting to intimidate, surveil, and silence Falun Gong practitioners outside of China.”

The practitioners reported the incident to the police, who arrived shortly after the Leungs’ departure. The officers assured them that their booth is protected under Finnish law and said they would monitor the area to mitigate any interference.

The practitioner who initially greeted Leung said he didn’t expect what followed.

“He said he could ‘look us up.’ What’s the purpose of that?” he told The Epoch Times.

He said there had been two other instances over the past year in which Beijing supporters intimidated them or tried to sabotage the site.

In September 2024, two men pulled down the Falun Gong banners and warn two Falun Gong practitioners to “behave” if they want to be safe in Finland.

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In January, two different men insulted him and his faith, and tried to grab his phone.

“We’ve already reported this to the Chinese embassy,” the man said in a recording shared with The Epoch Times.

The confrontation on Aug. 13 was the latest reminder of Beijing’s relentless suppression, said the witness.

“We are outside of China, but it doesn’t feel all that safe,” he said. “The Chinese Communist Party is still trying to persecute us.”

“As the Chinese regime intensifies its global campaigns of intimidation and coercion, it’s vital that democracies take action to protect vulnerable communities like Falun Gong and Finnish citizens practicing this faith,” says Browde. He urged Finnish authorities to publicly condemn Leung’s behavior and investigate Chinese surveillance and harassment of the faith group in the country.

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