Hong Kong security law informers: 'We're in every corner, watching’

Ex-banker Innes Tang has established a hotline for reporting behaviours deemed disloyal to Beijing.

Watch LiveBritish Broadcasting CorporationHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureArtsTravelEarthAudioVideoLiveHomeNewsIsrael-Gaza WarWar in UkraineUS & CanadaUKUK PoliticsEnglandN. IrelandN. Ireland PoliticsScotlandScotland PoliticsWalesWales PoliticsAfricaAsiaChinaIndiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastIn PicturesBBC InDepthBBC VerifySportBusinessExecutive LoungeTechnology of BusinessFuture of BusinessInnovationTechnologyScience & HealthArtificial IntelligenceAI v the MindCultureFilm & TVMusicArt & DesignStyleBooksEntertainment NewsArtsArts in MotionTravelDestinationsAfricaAntarcticaAsiaAustralia and PacificCaribbean & BermudaCentral AmericaEuropeMiddle EastNorth AmericaSouth AmericaWorld’s TableCulture & ExperiencesAdventuresThe SpeciaListEarthNatural WondersWeather & ScienceClimate SolutionsSustainable BusinessGreen LivingAudioPodcastsRadioAudio FAQsVideoLiveLive NewsLive SportHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureArtsTravelEarthAudioVideoLiveWeatherNewslettersWatch LiveHong Kong pro-China informer: 'Why I've reported dozens of people to police'2 days agoShareSaveBridget Wing & Georgina Lam, BBC Eye InvestigationsShareSaveInnes TangInnes Tang says he set up a hotline with his own money to receive reports of alleged national security infringementsFrom a woman waving a colonial-era flag in a shopping mall, to bakery staff selling cakes with protest symbols on them - dozens of Hongkongers have been reported to the police by one man for what he believes were national security violations.

"We're in every corner of society, watching, to see if there is anything suspicious which could infringe on the national security law," former banker Innes Tang tells the BBC World Service.

"If we find these things, we go and report it to the police."

When the UK returned Hong Kong to China 28 years ago, internationally binding treaties guaranteed the city's rights and freedoms for 50 years. But the national security law (NSL), imposed by Beijing a year after Hong Kong's 2019 mass pro-democracy protests, has been criticised for scuttling free speech and press, and for ushering in a new culture of informing.

The law criminalises activities considered to be calls for "secession" (breaking away from China), "subversion" (undermining the power or authority of the government), and collusion with foreign forces.