Emily Lau - Controversies and Attacks

Controversies and Attacks

In 1998, Lau sued the Hong Kong branch of the Xinhua News Agency due to the latter's slow response over her queries for personal information. She lost the case and was ordered by the court to pay a legal fee of HK$1.6 million. Claiming that her lawsuit was in the public interest, she attempted to raise funds from the public to repay the debt. In December 2000, with over $1 million still outstanding, the agency (now the Central People's Government Liaison Office) applied to the court for her bankruptcy.

Lau visited Taipei for a symposium on Hong Kong after the failure of the government to enact legislation on Article 23, pro-PRC media in Hong Kong attacked her personally by publishing half-page articles calling her the "Taiwan independence Legco member". Local communists also attempted to discredit her; they even reported her to the police.

Beside her legal problems, Lau has been the victim of several criminal nuisance cases, including telephone nuisance to her office in January and October 2003, and two cases where food and/or faeces were splashed outside her office in Shatin in July and September 2003. A woman and an old man were arrested and fined in connection with some of these cases. Most notably, an arson attack against Lau's office took place on 21 June 2004. Posters outside her office, about an upcoming rally, were burned. Words were left saying "All Chinese traitors must die (所有漢汗（奸）都要死)".