Former Toronto mayoral candidate met with sanctioned Hong Kong officials

Tony Luk said he ran for mayor of Toronto to “tell China’s story well”.

A Chinese Canadian businessman and former Toronto mayoral candidate has met with two Hong Kong officials sanctioned by the U.S. government for their roles in suppressing political freedoms and undermining democracy in Hong Kong, according to Chinese-language media reports.

Tony Luk (aka Anthony Ping Hung Luk, 陆炳雄), who ran for mayor in Toronto’s 2022 municipal election, reportedly met in person with John Lee Ka-chiu (李家超) and Zheng Yanxiong (郑雁雄), two key figures behind the implementation and enforcement of the draconian National Security Law in Hong Kong.

Celebrating the anniversary of Beijing’s seize of Hong Kong with HK top officials and CCP members  

As reported by GTA Chinese-language outlets Investment Weekly (投资周刊) and The Legends Media (传奇文化传媒),  the meeting took place on June 13, 2024, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center (香港会议展览中心). The event was hosted by the Friends of Hong Kong Association (FHKA, 香港友好协进会) to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s rule of mainland China, the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to Beijing and the 35th anniversary of the founding of the FHKA.

Source: screenshot from the June 14, 2024, issue of Investment Weekly.

Nearly 1000 people attended the party, with Luk among the invited guests.

Prominent keynote speakers included:

• John Lee Ka-chiu: Chief Executive (CE) of Hong Kong SAR；

• Zheng Yanxiong: Director of the Hong Kong Liaison Office (中联办主任);

• Zou Jiayi (邹加怡): Deputy Secretary-General of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC，政协);

• Wang Ping (王萍): Secretary General of Chinese Overseas Friendship Association (COFA, 中华海外联谊会). 

Both CPPCC and COFA are united front organizations in the CCP’s political influence system, focusing respectively on non-CCP members and overseas Chinese. Zou and Wang are both members of the CCP.

John Lee and Zheng Yanxiong were placed on on the U.S. sanction list on August 7, 2020, for undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy and restricting the freedom of expression or assembly of the citizens of Hong Kong. These sanctions are still in effect to this day.

Lee, formerly the Secretary for Security of Hong Kong, played a crucial role in the brutal crackdown on the 2019 pro-democracy protests and the ruthless legislation of the National Security Law (NSL) in 2020. 

In 2022, Lee became the CE of Hong Kong as the sole candidate after the retirement of the notorious Carrie Lam (林郑月娥). As CE, Lee continues to push for strict enforcement of the NSL and subsequent legislation of Article 23, which further tightens Beijing’s grip on Hong Kong.

When Hong Kong activist Agnes Chow (周庭), who was previously arrested under the NSL, fled to Canada after jumping bail, John Lee announced at a December 2023 press conference that the Hong Kong government would hunt her down for life.

Zheng Yanxiong, Beijing's representative in Hong Kong, also serves as the secretary of the Hong Kong Work Committee of the CCP. He was appointed as the first director of the Office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong when it was created in 2020 under the NSL.

As of August 2024, more than 10,000 Hong Kongers have been arrested, prosecuted or imprisoned since the 2019 protests. In 2020, the U.S. State Department published a report listing ten individuals who had significantly contributed to China’s failure to meet its obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and Hong Kong's Basic Law. Both Lee and Zheng were on that list.

Luk is a longtime supporter of Beijing with membership in 5 CPPCC organizations

Luk, 66, is the founder and president of the immigration company CanHome Group (加雄移民). 

Despite being born in Hong Kong and living in Canada for 50 years, Luk maintains close ties to the Chinese government, the main culprit behind the destruction of Hong Kong’s liberties.

Luk has been honored as an Overseas Representative of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) at 5 different levels of the Chinese government since 2013, including the PRC national CPPCC (2013), Guangdong provincial CPPCC (2015), Beijing municipal CPPCC (2015), Foshan municipal CPPCC (2017) and Zhanjiang municipal CPPCC (2019), as noted on the WeChat channel “The Luk Family (陆氏大家庭). 

Tony Luk attending a CPPCC conference in Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province, China. Source: WeChat channel “The Luk Family (陆氏大家庭)”.

An October 2023 post highlighted that Luk has attended the PRC National Day reception in Beijing for 23 years in a row. The 2023 event was co-hosted by the National CPPCC Committee, the United Front Work Department (UFWD，统战部) of the CCP Central Committee, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (OCAO，国侨办) and the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC, 中国侨联), among others — all key influence bodies of the CCP.

China’s Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi (王毅) delivered a speech at the 2023 conference. Minister Wang made headlines in Canada in 2016 for berating Canadian journalist Amanda Connolly over human rights questions regarding China.

Luk met with CCP supreme leader Xi Jinping (习近平) in 2019 in Beijing at the 9th Conference for Friendship of Overseas Chinese Associations. A group photo along with Luk’s conference badge was shared on his company’s WeChat channel.

Luk has run for office in Canada multiple times. During the 2022 municipal election in Ontario, Luk told his supporters at a fundraiser the reasons he ran for mayor of Toronto was to “tell China’s story well (讲好中国故事)”.

Earlier this month, Luk celebrated the 50th anniversary of his arrival in Canada with the release of his biography and a grand dinner party. Several Canadian politicians attended to show their support, including Ontario MPPs Daisy Wai (韦邱佩芳) and Aris Babikian (白必勤), Liberal MP Shaun Chen (陈圣源, represented by assistant Judy Yeung), and Markham Deputy Mayor Michael Chan (陈国治), among others.

Both Chan and Luk are ardent supporters of the Hong Kong police and the National Security Law. In 2020, Luk co-authored a statement endorsing the National Security Law alongside three other well-known United Front leaders. During the 2019 anti-extradition bill protests, Chan appeared on Chinese state media, praising the Hong Kong police and stating that, in Western countries, police would have "already fired bullets at the crowds" if protests had reached the intensity seen in Hong Kong.

Luk and Chan both attended a Parliament Hill rally on June 24, 2023. The rally, which was ostensibly held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act, was repeatedly linked with e-Petition 4395 in its marketing material, which urged the Canadian government to reconsider implementing a foreign agent registry.  

Luk’s company seeks to profit from immigration programs tailored for HK dissidents 

After the enactment of the Hong Kong National Security Law, the Canadian government introduced a series of lifeboat programs to help affected Hong Kongers relocate, stay, and eventually immigrate to Canada, including HK pathway Stream A, HK pathway Stream B, etc.  

Luk’s immigration firm, CanHome Group, which has offices in Hong Kong, mainland China and Canada, has posted various marketing content to attract applicants to these programs on its website, YouTube channel and facebook page.

It’s unclear how many individuals fleeing Hong Kong have submitted their personal documents through Luk’s company, but Toronto is a major destination for political asylum seekers including activist Agnes Chow.    

Luk has also met multiple times with Emily Mo Yuen-ching (巫菀菁), the director of the Toronto office of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO, 香港经贸处), a department of the HK Government.

In recent years, the HKETO has faced a global outcry for its closure. Human rights activists claim the HKETO, once an organization focused on promoting Hong Kong’s business interests, has evolved into an overseas arm of the CCP.  

The U.S. offices of the HKETO were found to have lobbied the U.S. government against legislation unfavourable to Beijing over the past decade. In May 2024, the London office of the HKETO was implicated in a serious espionage case targeting Hong Kong dissidents in the UK. Bill Chung Biu Yuen (袁松彪), an HKETO manager and former Hong Kong police officer, was among the three individuals charged with national security offenses for foreign interference and assisting Hong Kong intelligence in pursuing Hong Kong political fugitives Nathan Law (罗冠聪), Finn Lau (刘祖迪), and Christopher Mung (蒙兆達).

Meanwhile, their fellow fugitive Agnes Chow, is now living in the Toronto area, not far from Luk and his Beijing-friendly network. John Lee, who recently met with Luk in person, has vowed to pursue her for life.