National security law: former Chinese University student leader reveals he has fled to Canada fearing arrest in Hong Kong

Ernie Chow is one of a number of local activists, politicians and outspoken church leaders who recently left the city in the wake of Beijing-imposed security law

The 25-year-old wrote on Facebook he moved to Canada on March 25, 10 days after getting married

2-MIN READ2-MIN

99+

Protesters smash their way into the Legislative Council complex on July 1, 2019. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 7:14pm, 25 Apr 2021Updated: 7:28pm, 25 Apr 2021

A former student union chief at Hong Kong’s Chinese University who was involved in setting up a now-defunct cross-party platform for political cooperation in the city has revealed he fled to Canada fearing arrest under the national security law.

Ernie Chow Shue-fung was among a number of local activists and politicians - including outspoken church leaders - who recently left the city in the wake of the Beijing-imposed security law.

The 25-year-old said he moved to Canada on March 25, 10 days after getting married. Announcing his departure on Facebook, Chow said the arrests of 55 opposition politicians and activists over an unofficial primary election last July to choose candidates for now-postponed Legislative Council polls had “alarmed him greatly”.

“If I was one of the defendants, how would I respond? Can I uphold my dignity, to continue with my beliefs and not to surrender or beg?” he wrote. “I really don’t know, I’m not confident enough … so cowardly, I’d rather choose to go, and would never want to face such a challenge.”

Ernie Chow left the city In March. Photo: Handout

Chow was secretary of the Hong Kong Citizens’ Deliberative Platform, which had been in the works since June 2020 but was formally disbanded last December amid legal threats before it began operating. Secretary for Home Affairs Caspar Tsui Ying-wai accused the group of being “a blatant challenge to the bottom line of the central government”, and threatened to take legal action against it in an interview with the pro-Beijing Ta Kung Pao newspaper.

The group, endorsed by 17 opposition-led district councils, had said it aimed at promoting cross-district cooperation on political and livelihood issues last June, while council representatives also unanimously voiced their opposition to the introduction of the national security law, which went into force on June 30.