Agnes Chow, 27 has been one of the prominent faces in Hong Kong for her role in the 2019 pro-democracy protests that gripped the city.
Early this month she
announced she had moved to Canada and would not be returning to Hong Kong, skipping bail.
Chow has joined a long list of activists-turned-fugitives trying to escape the long arm of China’s persecution.
In an interview with
The Guardian – just days after she disclosed she would “
no longer go back (to Hong Kong) and probably never go back for the rest of my life” – Chow revealed one of the bail conditions imposed on her by Chinese authorities in return for allowing her to study abroad while she was out on bail.
To Chow there was no mistaking the purpose of the mandatory “propaganda tour” of the mainland: to “reeducate me.”
But moving to Canada, where she has been admitted in one of the universities there, has not erased her fears. She said was still “concerned about (her) personal safety”.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee vowed to “
pursue her for life unless she turns herself in.”
Chow is currently facing charges of colluding with foreign forces under the NSL, which gave China sweeping power over Hong Kong. Since her release on bail in 2021, she says she has been under surveillance by the city police.
Her fears about China reaching her even in Toronto is not unfounded. Among others, Chow risks being targeted by one of Beijing’s overseas “secret police stations,” some of which reportedly operate in Canada.
Safeguard Defenders, a Madrid-based rights group, estimates that there are
more than 100 “Chinese overseas police service centers in 53 countries around the world, which are tasked to monitor and forcibly repatriate China’s targets. Experts believe that the stations are part of Beijing’s efforts to
manage its more than 10.5 million citizens abroad and to keep a tighter leash on exiled citizens.
It’s also possible for Hong Kong to declare a bounty on Chow’s head and to go after anybody who will support her or help her hide. This, after all, has been the experience of
eight self-exiled activists – including Nathan Law of the youth activist group Demosisto, which he cofounded with Chow, along with other prominent young pro-democracy leaders Joshua Wong and Oscar Lai.
Last July, Lee said the government would use “all necessary means” to hunt down dissidents and those assisting them.
Yip Ho, 35, was accused of helping hide
three fugitive activists. He was slapped with the heaviest sentence among the four – 20 months in jail. Two of the four were sentenced to 11 months and two weeks, and 10 months, respectively, while the third, a 17-year-old and therefore a minor, was sent to a training center.