In an exclusive interview with Breitbart London, a former employee of the United Kingdom’s Consulate in Hong Kong, who was kidnapped and tortured by the Chinese government, says that he is struggling to find work because employers are afraid of “pissing off” Beijing.

Simon Cheng said that he is “very grateful” to the United Kingdom and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab for supporting him and providing medical care for the “post-traumatic syndrome” that he suffered as a result of torture inflicted upon him by the Chinese Communist Party.

“What [the British] did for me as far as health was good, but now I am in negotiations with the UK about my visa because at this moment it is still a temporary two-year work visa”, Cheng said.

“It is pretty hard to secure a job because many employers look at my case and are mindful and cautious that if they hire me it would piss Beijing off”, he lamented.

Mr Cheng was abducted in Hong Kong in August of 2019 and brought to mainland China, where he was tortured and interrogated for fifteen days. He told Breitbart London that his captors were “plainclothes officers” working for the Chinese Communist Party’s Public Security Bureau (PSB).

“I had been stopped and the immigration officers didn’t give me any reasons but they handed me over to a bunch of plainclothes officers and brought me back to Futian, Shenzhen [in mainland China] and what I heard was that they were working for the Public Security Bureau,” he said.

“It was a very harsh experience that I went through, I went through rounds and rounds of interrogation, asking me about my roles in the protests [in Hong Kong] and the UK’s roles in the protests”, Cheng added.

Communist Cruelty: UK Consulate Employee Says he was Tortured by Chinese Communist Party https://t.co/LtrbxrdR8X — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) November 20, 2019

Mr Cheng, a vocal supporter of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, called on the British government to support the people in Hong Kong by loosening visa restrictions and to using its power in the international community to speak out against the human rights violations happening in the city.

“I hope that the Foreign Office will speak stronger on the human rights abuses happening in Hong Kong and even happening in China because what I saw when I was in the detention centre, I saw a bunch of the Hong Kong protestors have been detained for no reason”, he said.

“There are still about 3 million British nationals living in Hong Kong, so I think the UK not only has a moral obligation but also has a legal obligation to protect the British nationals and other citizens in Hong Kong,” he suggested.

In January, the former British consulate employee severed ties with his family in Hong Kong and China so that they would not suffer retribution as a result of him speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Cheng wrote:

I hereby declare disconnection from my family in Hong Kong and Mainland. What I do and say solely represents myself, it is not relevant to my family and relatives. I hope they can live in tranquility and peace, without external harassment and threat. We once loved and nurtured each other, now we better forget it, as we will take no more agony and worry.

Follow Kurt on Twitter at @KurtZindulka