Hong Kong 'outlaw' jumps bail into the fire

Photo taken on July 14, 2020 shows the Golden Bauhinia Square in Hong Kong, July 14, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

Two years after she appeared in public the last time, Agnes Chow Ting, who played a leading role in the waves of protest in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2019, has said she will never return from Canada.

That's a tight slap on the face of the home-haters in Hong Kong who claimed they fight for "freedom" and "democracy". Chow was found guilty and was sentenced to prison in 2020, and was restricted from leaving the SAR because she was still under investigation, though out on bail. It was at her request that the local police allowed her to go to Canada for higher studies. She had promised to report to the police routinely, whenever required. However, she recently announced on a social networking site that she will never return. Both the judicial system and the police in Hong Kong followed the rule of law, but Chow, obviously, doesn't have any respect for that. If she and her friends didn't intend to obey the law or pay a price for violating it, why did these home-haters boast about other values such as "democracy" or "freedom"?

When Chow was charged in 2020, she cried in court. The judge sentenced her to 10 months in prison, and the police later gave her a chance to improve by allowing her to travel to Canada for studies. But instead of respecting the rule of law, she fled. After all for her the law is nothing but a scrap of paper to be torn up at any time.

The Hong Kong SAR government vowed on Monday to pursue Chow in accordance with the law and condemned her act of absconding. It might be difficult for them to bring her back considering the anti-China narrative in the West. But as long as there are posters showing that Chow is wanted by the police back home, she will remain an outlaw. She needs to act wisely and shoulder responsibility for her deeds.