UK gives secret asylum to Chinese dissidents

Britain has secretly given political asylum to five Chinese dissidents who have recently been based in Hong Kong, including a student leader of the 1989 pro-democracy movement.

Details of the arrival of the seven people - two are dependants - have been kept confidential in an attempt to avoid upsetting the Chinese authorities in the run-up to the Hong Kong handover a week tomorrow.

While it is widely known that other countries, including the United States, Holland and Finland, have given political asylum to those fearing for their safety in Hong Kong after 30 June, this is the first confirmation of Britain specifically helping anti-Peking political activists.

The five - three men and two women, all thought to be in their late twenties - were involved in the pro-democracy movement which culminated in the Tiananmen Square massacre. They have been granted full political asylum in Britain with rights to social benefits, the immediate right to work and the right to a British passport after four years.

One of the dissidents, now living in England under a new name, said that the move was arranged in co-operation with the Hong Kong government, the British Home and Foreign offices and non-governmental human rights organisations.

Members of the group had first appealed to the Hong Kong and UK governments for help in 1996, he said, after it had become clear that the Chinese government and the incoming provisional legislature would not allow them to remain in Hong Kong after 30 June. It was thought they would be sent back to mainland China where they would face discrimination and possible imprisonment because of their activities.

British government officials said that they were unable to give any details about the cases. Sir David Ford, Commissioner of the Hong Kong government office in London, said that although asylum cases had been dealt with he had not been personally involved, and it was a matter for the Home Office and the Foreign Office. A Home Office spokeswoman declined to comment on individual cases. A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We really don't say much, if anything at all." He added: "For obvious reasons, it is a sensitive issue."

The dissident said he was speaking out because he now had friends and colleagues in Hong Kong, possibly in danger from the Chinese authorities, who were seeking asylum. These included activists who had recently fled to Hong Kong after being released from prison in China. Some had considered suicide if they could not get out.

HK talent flees, page 15