Penny Wong issues stern rebuke after Hong Kong pro-democracy activist living in Australia targeted with threatening letter

Adelaide-based lawyer and exiled Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner Ted Hui was targeted with a menacing letter on Wednesday that offered a handsome reward for anyone who handed the dissident over to authorities.

Mr Hui revealed in a Facebook post that the anonymous letter had been mailed to his colleagues at the Adelaide law firm where he works, offering $203,000 to anyone who handed him over, or divulged information regarding his family’s whereabouts.

The letter, mailed from a Hong Kong address earlier this month, claimed Mr Hui was a “wanted person” for a myriad of national security related offences including “incitement to secession” and “collusion with a foreign country”. 

The letter further alleges Mr Hui fled Hong Kong with more than $3 million in criminally laundered funds which he has vehemently denied, labelling the charges as false, manufactured and entirely “fictitious”.

Mr Hui said he has informed Australian Federal Police about the letter. 

In a statement to SkyNews.com.au, Senator Wong said "continued attempts to target individuals in Australia are reprehensible and threaten our national sovereignty, as well as the safety and security of Australians".

"Australia will not tolerate the targeting, surveillance, harassment or intimidation of any person in Australia by a foreign government," Ms Wong said.

"The Australian government and our security agencies are acting to keep Australians safe, protect their democratic rights, and support affected individuals and communities.

"Australia has raised, and will continue to raise, our concerns directly with the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities."

Mr Hui is a former legislator who settled in Australia in 2021 after fleeing Hong Kong in 2019 amid intensifying crackdowns on civil liberties and mass protests.

Mr Hui revealed the developments in a heated Facebook post on Wednesday, saying he had decided to share the letter to tell the Hong Kong Communist Party that he is “not afraid”.

“The more you suppress me, the more I will speak out for Hong Kong’s freedom. Of course, I will also be careful to protect my family,” Mr Hui wrote.

Mr Hui said the letter sent to his workplace listed his personal information, the address of the law firm, and a "residential address in Adelaide that is not connected" to him. 

“I have informed the Australian Foreign Minister’s office, and the federal police are in close contact with the Australian government,” the post read.

“The federal police have informed me they will meet with me to take statements, conduct evidence searches, trace the source of the letters and try their best to keep me and my family safe.”

Mr Hui has been the victim of an ongoing campaign, after it was revealed last week that a fake pamphlet impersonating his law firm was circulated to local mosques, stating he was a pro-Israeli lawyer and agent intending to “wage war” against Islamic terrorism.

The pamphlet was mailed from a Macau address.

The shocking revelations sparked a fiery diplomatic row, with Ms Wong vowing the government would “not accept any one of our citizens or on our shores, people being bullied or harassed or threatened by a foreign power”.  

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning accordingly accused the Albanese government of dictating and interfering with its domestic affairs, slamming Ms Wong's comments as unacceptable.

It comes after Melbourne residents received a near identical letter earlier this month offering a handsome bounty regarding Kevin Yam, an Australian citizen, academic and staunch Hong Kong democracy activist.

Mr Hui and Mr Yam are both wanted by Hong Kong authorities for allegedly violating a contentious national security law that gives authorities extensive extraterritorial powers to prosecute acts or comments made anywhere in the world that it considers criminal.