A former British Consulate General employee who was tortured by Chinese agents on the mainland said he now suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and the looming national security law will endanger every single Hong Konger.

Simon Cheng, who was taken away by Chinese national security agents at the high-speed rail station’s West Kowloon Terminus last August after a business trip, was interrogated and tortured at a mainland site for 15 days, before he was released back to Hong Kong.

Cheng, who now lives in the United Kingdom, told Apple Daily in a video interview that he chose to reveal his ordeal because he wanted to prevent such an incident from happening again.

“I know I don’t have a [second chance]. If I am arrested for the second time, I would be doomed. That’s why I chose to resist,” Cheng said.

Cheng speculated that after the national security law was enacted, a small number of protest leaders would be arrested, and the scope would gradually expand until every Hong Konger was under threat.

He said under the upcoming national security law, Hong Kongers could be legally arrested in Hong Kong and taken to mainland China.

“It is very worrying if we accept this. Our values of truth over lies as well as our yearning for democracy will fade away,” he said.

Recalling his ordeal, Cheng said he was locked up in a cage and was tied to a torture chair when agents pulled his hair, forcibly opened his eyes, and unlocked his mobile phone using facial recognition without his consent. At another interrogation, his limbs were tied. The agents then forced him to squat and beat him up if he could not hold his position, Cheng added.

Cheng said he had to address his interrogator as “master” in Putonghua before he spoke, or he would be physically abused until he collapsed. He was tortured up to a point where he agreed to make a confession video claiming he solicited a prostitute on the mainland.

“I used to think those confession tapes of human rights activists were very remote from me. I couldn’t have guessed that it would happen to me,” he said.

Cheng said he suffered from PTSD from the horrifying experience, which has caused him nightmares. He also found it very difficult to trust people. “I am worried if a person I’m talking to is a secret police,” he added. “I have also dreamed of myself being taken away by secret police.”

Cheng said that when he was in Taipei last year, he was being followed. Although he believed he escaped surveillance, he saw the same person follow him again at another location. He reported the case to Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council and received police protection.

After he moved to the UK, he said he was approached by a Chinese person who claimed to be a student wishing to interview him for a piece of homework. But the person dropped pursuing the interview after Cheng asked him for a resumé.

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