A Chinese political dissident who made a daring escape attempt by inflatable dinghy has finally reached Canada, according to a social media post made by his friend on Saturday.
Dong Guangping was found in May aboard a small 3.3-meter (10.8-foot) inflatable boat in the waters near a western South Korean island, where he was taken into custody by South Korea’s coast guard on suspicion of violating the country’s immigration laws. It marked his fourth known attempt to leave China.
When he appeared before a South Korean court, Dong told reporters he was hoping to make it to Canada to be reunited with his wife and daughters, who had already been resettled there, according to reports from South Korean media.
Sheng Xue, a Chinese Canadian activist and friend of Dong’s, announced on the social media platform X on Saturday that Dong had touched down in Toronto following an Air Canada flight the previous day.
“He just had a big bowl of noodles with eggs, tomatoes and shrimps,” she wrote, noting that she had spent more than a decade working to help him get out of China.
She also shared two photographs — one showing Dong riding in a car alongside her, and another of him holding a bowl of food.
Before becoming a dissident, Dong worked as a police officer in China. He was imprisoned for three years in 2001 after being convicted of “inciting subversion of state power.” He was later arrested again in 2014 and spent more than eight months incarcerated for participating in a memorial honoring victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, according to past statements from Amnesty International.
Dong had previously fled to Thailand and Vietnam in earlier escape attempts, but was deported back to China by authorities in both countries. He also made an unsuccessful attempt to swim to a Taiwanese island.
Canada’s Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship department had not yet responded to requests for comment at the time of this report.
