Update | Hong Kong army cadets ‘drafted in students to boost member numbers’ at secretive inauguration

Controversy is continuing to swell around a secretive, military-style organisation for young Hongkongers, after one of its first “recruits” said he never agreed to join the group, despite being presented as one of its members.

In an interview with an online news outlet, the student said he and others were drafted in just to make Sunday’s inauguration ceremony for the Hong Kong Army Cadets Association look good.

Youth Commission chairman Bunny Chan Chung-bun, who also chairs the association, admitted on Tuesday that of the some 300 people who attended the inauguration ceremony, only a few dozen had signed up for membership. The rest were just attendees, he said.

The association boasts the backing of government leaders, Beijing’s representatives in the city and the local People’s Liberation Army garrison, with Regina Leung Tong Ching-yee, wife of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, as its “commander-in-chief”. The creation of the group and the fact that the few media invited to the launch had close ties to Beijing led to fears from democracy campaigners that it would be a political tool.

The “recruit”, named only as Jackie, said he saw an ad for the event posted on a Facebook page for alumni of a military summer camp organised by the Education Bureau, the PLA and a non-profit group called Concerted Efforts Resource Centre.

People who agreed to take part in the ceremony would get a free PLA uniform, which would be the outfit for the new group, he said. He agreed to go along out of curiosity and was told by staff from Concerted Efforts he was not being recruited to the cadets.