 In August 2019, Xu spoke out on Twitter, Sina Weibo and YouTube questioning the government's reporting of the Hong Kong protests, stating that the Chinese government was running a "smear campaign", and met with human rights lawyer Chen Qiushi who had shared similar views.Xu has also clarified on his YouTube account that his statements were about how the mainland government should adhere to the One China, Two Systems policy as promised, rather than a call for Hong Kong independence.He was subsequently visited by Chinese authorities and had his Sina Weibo account wiped for the eighth time.