By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-08 06:29:54 | Updated at 2025-01-08 22:10:49
15 hours ago
Families of six Hong Kong victims being detained in Myanmar for forced labour have called on the city government to seek help from Beijing to speed up rescue efforts, a day after a mainland actor who went missing at the Thai-Myanmar border was saved with joint actions by Thai and Chinese authorities.
A man whose family member had been “reluctantly” sent to Myanmar after landing in Thailand some five months ago on Wednesday also submitted a petition to the Thai consulate in Hong Kong to seek help.
“The successful rescue of the actor of course enhanced my confidence in my family’s case … The key to success lies in the support of the Chinese government,” the man, who asked only to be identified as Kelvin in order to protect his family member, said.
“So I call on the Hong Kong government to be more active in engaging with mainland authorities on the matter, since diplomatic affairs fall in the purview of the central government.”
Kelvin refused to provide his family member’s name, gender and age, nor his own surname, citing fears that the family member would “receive punishment” in Myanmar.
According to him, the family member was offered a one-time job five months ago to purchase goods from Japan and Taiwan and bring them back to Hong Kong.
