Hongkonger Anthony Chiu is a Porsche fanatic. The model of his dreams since he was a child was the Porsche 964, a 1989 classic that is still highly sought after to this day.
When Chiu was finally able to afford his own sports car from the German brand – albeit not his dream model – he was keen to secure a licence plate that would pay tribute to the Type 964. In 2020, he reserved about six standard vehicle registration marks containing the numbers “964” which were up for auction and paid deposits.
Without attending the bidding, Chiu was allocated the licence plate “US 8964” after it remained unsold at the auction.
Little did he know this number plate would put him in the crosshairs of the local authorities over the next few years. It was eventually confiscated by the Transport Department this month.
Tiananmen crackdown
“8964 is a special day. To me, this licence plate has a double meaning. Perhaps that is why it got so much attention,” Chiu told HKFP in a phone interview in early August, shortly after he emigrated to the UK with his family.
The number “8964” is a reference to the Tiananmen crackdown, which occurred on June 4, 1989, ending months of student-led demonstrations in China. It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, died when the People’s Liberation Army cracked down on protesters in Beijing.
The date became sensitive in Hong Kong after Beijing imposed a national security law in the city in 2020. The sight of tens of thousands of Hongkongers gathering for an annual candlelight vigil in Victoria Park on June 4 to commemorate the victims became a thing of the past, as police banned the event in 2020 and 2021.
Since 2023, the vigil site has been taken over by a patriotic marketplace organised by pro-Beijing groups on the Tiananmen crackdown anniversary. The carnival features clan associations representing mainland provinces such as Guangdong, Fujian, and Guangxi.
Chiu and his Porsche first attracted media attention in 2022, when the police stopped him outside Windsor House near Victoria Park on the Tiananmen anniversary. That year, authorities had shut down parts of the recreational venue citing online calls that had “incited” unauthorised assemblies that day.
Chiu’s attempts to mark the crackdown anniversary by driving his car around Victoria Park were repeatedly thwarted by police in the years that followed. On June 4, 2023, police impounded his car in Causeway Bay, citing issues with the embossed number plate and the brakes. On last year’s Tiananmen anniversary, Chiu was stopped on the Eastern Corridor before he could reach Causeway Bay, and his car was again towed away.
Arrests have been made on recent Tiananmen anniversaries, but there remains no official word on whether a public vigil or commemoration would be legal under the national security law, and the Article 23 legislation enacted last year.
See also: Explainer: Is it legal for people in Hong Kong to commemorate the Tiananmen crackdown?
“This is not my most frequently used car. I mainly took it out for a morning spin two or three times a month. There was never any issue, except when I drove it on June 4,” Chiu said.
The Porsche owner said in a social media post at the time that he had been followed while driving his sports car from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island, adding that it might be the last time his car would appear on June 4.
Car sent abroad
Chiu’s prediction became reality this year. The 39-year-old told HKFP in June that he sent his car abroad after he and his family members faced a year of harassment. Anonymous letters were sent to his residence, workplace, his daughter’s school and relatives. The letters, seen by HKFP, contained his personal information, photos of his sports car, and accusations that he may have violated the national security law.
The harassment Chiu faced was reminiscent of the threats encountered by dozens of local journalists last year, when they received emails and letters containing defamatory content at their homes, workplaces, and other locations.
According to Chiu, he had filed reports with the police and the privacy watchdog about the harassment, but due to the anonymous nature of the letters, there was little the authorities could do.
Looking back on his days driving around with the “US 8964” licence plate, Chiu described the experience as an emotional rollercoaster. The praise he received at the beginning made him feel gratified, but getting into trouble with the authorities and facing harassment was beyond his expectations.
“Some people would shout ‘well done’ when they saw me with the car on the street. It made me very happy. But the harassment that followed, affecting different family members of mine and my wife, was very disappointing. Do these people not have any morals?” Chiu said.
Licence transfer failed
With harassment as the last straw, along with other factors such as seeking better education for his daughter, Chiu and his family decided to relocate to Britain this year. One of his first steps was shipping his Porsche abroad, which took place in the weeks leading up to the Tiananmen crackdown anniversary.
Just when he thought the drama surrounding the car and its licence plate would end, Chiu encountered problems transferring the plate to a new owner. Under Hong Kong law, vehicle registration marks cannot be transferred directly between owners.
Chiu arranged to transfer the “US 8964” licence plate to another person together with his vehicle, and they submitted an application to the Transport Department in mid-June.
In late July, after Chiu discovered that he needed the original foreign registration certificate to register his car in the UK, he and the new owner returned to the Transport Department to transfer the vehicle and licence back to him.
But in early August, the new owner received a letter from the Transport Department stating that Chiu should have informed the authorities within 15 days of the car being shipped abroad. The authorities would then have cancelled the vehicle registration.
According to the letter seen by HKFP, the department said it considered the car to have been “permanently sent away from Hong Kong” on May 31, and therefore its registration should have been cancelled by June 15, and the licence plate withdrawn.
The authorities ultimately cancelled the registration of Chiu’s car and took back the “US 8964” licence plate.
HKFP enquired with the Transport Department as to how the authorities define a vehicle as having “permanently” left Hong Kong, as opposed to being shipped overseas temporarily, and whether the “US 8964” plate would be auctioned again in the future.
The department said it would not comment on individual cases.
“How do you know I’m not sending the vehicle abroad just for a few months? I could have sent it abroad for maintenance or a holiday – in that case, I don’t have to cancel the vehicle registration,” Chiu said.
“I think the whole incident is quite ridiculous. I would rather the authorities tell me that the licence plate needs to be cancelled because of national security reasons,” he added.
As Chiu slowly settled into his new life in the UK, he said he had long resisted the idea of moving abroad despite the expansion of immigration pathways for Hongkongers offered by various countries following the enactment of the national security law.
He said he was reluctant to leave his home city, his family, and the friends he had made through Porsche fan groups. He also wanted his daughter to be old enough to move and able to speak fluent Cantonese.
“I love Hong Kong, but it is no longer the Hong Kong I knew. As someone who became a protagonist in the news, I feel this even more strongly,” Chiu said.
“I just want Hong Kong to get better. That is my very simple wish,” he added.
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