This article has been corrected – click to view.
Correction 13:24: An early version of this article incorrectly named Mimi Mi Wahng Yuen as Yuen Mi-mong. We regret the error.
Hong Kong national security police have questioned Derek and Mimi Yuen – the son and eldest daughter of wanted self-exiled activist Elmer Yuen – according to local media citing sources on Monday.
Mimi Yuen reportedly flew from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, arriving on Monday morning. She was taken away from somewhere in Hong Kong island at around 10am, Sing Tao Daily reported.
The son, Derek, is a former advisor for the pro-establishment New People’s Party and a scholar of international policy. Based in Hong Kong, he told Sing Tao Daily last week that he had “a brief meeting” with his father and has avoided any financial exchanges.
US-based businessman Elmer Yuen, 74, who is the father-in-law of pro-establishment legislator Eunice Yung, was said to have urged foreign countries to impose sanctions on Hong Kong officials and members of the Judiciary on various online platforms between July 2020 and May 2023.
He was also among the activists behind a plan to form a “Hong Kong Parliament” last year, which promoted Hongkongers’ right to self-determination. Such acts amounted to subverting the state power and foreign collusion, police claim. According to the wording of the security law, the legislation applies internationally to all individuals.
Derek Yuen’s wife Eunice Yung is a member of New People’s Party. As Elmer Yuen’s daughter-in-law, she publicly severed her relationship with him in 2022. Following the police arrest warrants, Yung said that Elmer Yuen should return to Hong Kong and surrender.
Erica Yuen, the youngest daughter of Elmer Yuen, is a former politician and a businesswoman. She emigrated to Vancouver with her husband in 2021. Erica and Mimi together run the retail stores Mi Ming Mart. The company has been listed.
HKFP has reached out to the police and Yuen’s family for a response.
Wanted self-exiled democrats
On July 3, national security police announced arrest warrants for eight overseas democrats, accusing them of calling for sanctions against local officials and scheming for foreign countries to undermine Hong Kong’s status as a financial centre.
Police named Elmer Yuen, along with ex-lawmakers Ted Hui and Dennis Kwok; activists Nathan Law, Anna Kwok, Mung Siu-tat and Finn Lau; and solicitor Kevin Yam. The democrats are now based in Australia, the US and the UK.
A reward of HK$1 million is being offered for each of the wanted people, police added.
Chief Executive John Lee and pro-establishment parties have voiced support for the warrants. At a press conference, Lee invited “anyone” – including the friends and family members of those wanted – to assist in their arrests.
“The government will exhaust all lawful means to apprehend criminals endangering national security… [we] will pursue them for the rest of our lives even if they run to the ends of the earth,” said the chief executive.
Meanwhile, activist groups and Western countries have decried the move. The US, where a number of the wanted democrats including Kwok and Elmer Yuen are based, said the exterritorial application of the Beijing-enacted law was a “dangerous precedent that threatens the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people all over the world.”
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