Activist says she still feels under police’s watch in Canada

Agnes Chow

Activist Agnes Chow, who left Hong Kong for Canada and won’t return to meet her bail conditions, said yesterday she felt still under the watch of the Chinese territory’s police even after moving to Toronto.

Chow is one of Hong Kong’s most prominent young activists and was arrested in 2020 under the national security law that was enacted following 2019 anti-government protests. While she was not charged and was released on bail, police confiscated her passport before returning her this year under certain conditions, including a visit to mainland China with authorities.

Chow said in an interview with The Associated Press that Hong Kong’s national security police called her twice to ask her about her status after she left the city to pursue further studies in September.

“They keep trying to make me feel like I’m under their eyes,” she said.

On Tuesday, Hong Kong leader John Lee hit out at Chow’s decision to not return to Hong Kong to fulfil her bail conditions. He called Chow a “liar” and said the police’s attempt to offer her lenient treatment eventually led to them being deceived. Chow would be pursued for life unless she turns herself in, he added.

But Chow rejected the government’s claims that police had offered her leniency. She said in an Instagram post on Sunday she only had her passport returned to her so she could pursue a master’s degree after she agreed to go to mainland China with national security authorities.

During that trip in August, she said, she visited to an exhibition on China’s achievements and the headquarters of tech giant Tencent. She was asked to pose for photos. Later, police asked her to write a thank you letter to them before returning her passport to her, she added.

Chow pondered for “a really long time” whether to publicize her experience.

“If I did not make my story public, these photos, these letters might one day become the evidence of my patriotism. That is something I do not want to see,” she said.

The police and Lee have not immediately replied to the AP’s request for comment.

They have condemned her decision to leave. Lee on Tuesday highlighted that Chow was arrested for alleged collusion with foreign forces and that those who have committed that offense have become foreign agents.

However, Chow said that framing was “ridiculous,” pointing out she has not been charged three years after her arrest. She said her decision to move to Canada and not to return to Hong Kong was entirely her own decision.

She said she was “stopped” from contacting her friends in Demosisto, a now-defunct political party she co-founded with other prominent activists Nathan Law and Joshua Wong.

Demosisto was disbanded on June 30, 2020, the same day the security law was enacted. Wong is in custody on a subversion charge that could result in life imprisonment if he is convicted. Law fled to Britain and Hong Kong police have offered a reward of 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($127,600) for information leading to his arrest.  TIAN MACLEOD JI, BANGKOK, MDT/AP