{"id":3383,"date":"2026-06-29T13:05:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T13:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3383"},"modified":"2026-06-29T13:05:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T13:05:40","slug":"a-chinese-dissident-recounts-his-perilous-dinghy-escape-to-south-korea-and-how-he-got-to-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3383","title":{"rendered":"A Chinese dissident recounts his perilous dinghy escape to South Korea and how he got to Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

HONG KONG (AP) \u2014 A roughly 40-hour sea journey on a dinghy with a dying phone. Detention in South Korea. That\u2019s just part of what Chinese dissident Dong Guangping endured to escape his native country. He arrived late last week in Canada, a destination he had eyed for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

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Dong had been locked up in China several times, including for his activities commemorating the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing\u2019s Tiananmen Square and past efforts to flee.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like living in a cage. Very suffocating,\u201d he said in an online video interview with The Associated Press from Toronto, referring to the lack of freedom of expression in China.<\/p>\n

After his release from prison, the 68-year-old dissident said he was unable to receive retirement benefits or renew his passport and was under constant police monitoring.<\/p>\n

China’s Foreign Ministry said the government handles the entry and exit of its citizens in accordance with the law and that Chinese citizens must abide by the Constitution and the law.<\/p>\n

Dong attempted to flee at least three previous times: in 2015 to Thailand, where authorities deported him back to China; in 2019 when he tried to swim to a Taiwanese island off China’s east coast; and in 2020, when he reached Vietnam, only to be deported back again.<\/p>\n

Last month, he tried again.<\/p>\n

Dong says he shook off the fear of death<\/p>\n

In the early hours of May 24, he set off in a gray rubber dinghy fitted with an engine from Weihai, a coastal city in eastern China\u2019s Shandong province, under fine weather. He was eyeing Japan, confident that the government there would not send him back to China.<\/p>\n

But the next day brought fog. When he noticed his phone, which he relied on for GPS navigation, was on its last bar, he became terrified. His power bank also died. He quickly switched to his contingency plan \u2014 South Korea.<\/p>\n

Dong recalled that dread ran deep because his tiny boat might capsize if the winds and waves picked up. But he had no way to return and shook off the fear of death.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiving conditions back in the country are so terrible that being alive is little different than being dead. So there is no point fearing death,” he said. \u201cIf you move forward, there\u2019s a chance at life.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the evening, he saw lights in the distance and moved toward them. The first vessel could not hear his cries for help and left. Later, he encountered a fishing boat that agreed to pull him on board. He asked the fishers to call the police to help him.<\/p>\n

The South Korean coast guard detained him for allegedly violating the country\u2019s immigration law. They sought a warrant to formally arrest him, but a court refused, saying it\u2019s \u201cdifficult to recognize sufficient grounds and necessity\u201d for his arrest.<\/p>\n

From refugee center to Canada<\/p>\n

Dong was later sent to a refugee center in Incheon, a port city near Seoul. Earlier this month, the U.N. refugee agency contacted him via video call, he said.<\/p>\n

A refugee center manager later asked about his height, weight and his eye color. He was worried at first but it turned out to be a good sign. His lawyer told him it was at the request of the Canadian diplomatic mission, he said.<\/p>\n

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About a week later, Dong boarded a flight and he arrived in Toronto Friday. He was still unclear what legal procedures were involved in his move, but guessed it was based on cooperation between the South Korean and Canadian governments and the U.N. agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very surprised, extremely surprised. It’s like still in a dream. It’s very fast,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He believed the resettlement status in Canada that his family secured in 2015, before Thai authorities deported him back to China, was still valid.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Embassy in South Korea declined to comment on Dong’s case. South Korea\u2019s Foreign Ministry said the country handled the case \u201cin accordance with law and principle,\u201d but did not specify Seoul\u2019s role in arranging Dong\u2019s transfer to Canada. The U.N. refugee agency declined to comment on individual cases for reasons of confidentiality and protection.<\/p>\n

Dong vows to press on with his activism<\/p>\n

Dong said he feels at home after arriving in Toronto, saying he finally tasted freedom for the first time in over a decade.<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s not even a hint of fear,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He hopes to make a living, possibly by being a truck driver or an Uber driver.<\/p>\n

But the joy doesn’t help Dong let go of the deportations by the Thai and Vietnamese authorities.<\/p>\n

In 2015, Dong and his family went to Thailand to seek refugee status from the U.N. refugee agency, but Thai authorities later arrested him and returned him to China, according to Amnesty International. His ex-wife and daughter managed to settle in Canada.<\/p>\n

The activist fled to Vietnam in 2020, but was sent back in 2022. He was jailed each time he was returned to China. He said he plans to consult a lawyer to see if he can sue both Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>\n

For Dong, the fight is far from over. He also plans to press on in his call for China’s democratization.<\/p>\n

In the late 1990s, the former police officer distributed leaflets with his articles on topics such as the Tiananmen crackdown. He was imprisoned for three years in 2001 for inciting subversion of state power.<\/p>\n

He also spent more than eight months behind bars over his participation in a memorial for victims of the crackdown after being arrested in 2014, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy ultimate goal is for China to achieve constitutional democracy,” he said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, and Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

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