Hong Kong Activist Agnes Chow Forgoes Bail, Stays in Canada

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Facts

  • 27-year-old Hong Kong activist Agnes Chow posted on social media Sunday night that she would violate her bail conditions and not return to the city over fears for her safety. Chow first received a 10-month jail sentence — under China's national security law implemented the prior year — in 2020 for participating in an unauthorized assembly.1
  • Chow was a spokesperson for the now-defunct group Scholarism during the 2012 anti-national education protests and a founding member of the Demosisto political party alongside Joshua Wong and Nathan Law. In 2018, she renounced her British citizenship to run for Hong Kong's Legislative Council, though her candidacy was disqualified; she was arrested the next year during the 2019 pro-democracy protests.2
  • After agreeing to visit an exhibit on China’s achievements and the headquarters of tech giant Tencent, authorities in July returned her passport so she could travel to Canada to study. Now in Canada, Chow says she doesn't 'want to be forced to do things that I don’t want to do anymore and be forced to visit mainland China again,' citing physical and mental health struggles.3
  • Chow also had to apply to the national security authorities to leave the city, which included a letter of repentance in which she offered regret for her past political activism and promised to never again participate in political activities nor contact other political activists, particularly those from Scholarism and Demosisto.2
  • Chow, whose studies at a university in Toronto were permitted on the condition that she regularly check in with the police, also claimed that 'Several emotional illnesses put my body and mind in a very unstable state.' In response, Hong Kong police condemned her post, stating that she was 'challenging the rule of law.'1
  • Chow was one of more than 10K individuals arrested in connection with the 2019 protests, including Joshua Wong and Ivan Lam. While appealing her prison sentence in 2020, she was indicted on a separate charge of 'collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security.'2

Sources: 1Al Jazeera, 2Global Voices and 3ABC4 Utah.

Narratives

  • Anti-China narrative, as provided by The Globe and Mail. Freedom fighters like Agnes Chow have risked their lives for years in pursuit of exposing the authoritarian tendencies of Beijing and its proxy politicians in Hong Kong. Beijing's reach goes far beyond its borders — having previously issued overseas warrants and questioned dissidents' family members — which is why Chow still fears for her life despite living in Canada.
  • Pro-China narrative, as provided by Global Times. So-called activists like Chow are not fighting for the people of Hong Kong but rather jeopardizing their national security. Young people need to understand that these protesters were traitors who put the safety of the territory at risk. While treasonous exiles work to undermine their home country from abroad, Beijing and Hong Kong are working to educate young generations on how not to fall under the same subversive spell.

Predictions