Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung (; born 23 February 1957 in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

) is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

politician, the vice-chairman of the Labour Party, and a former member of the Legislative Council.

Career

Cheung obtained his undergraduate degree in social work from

Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) is a publicly funded tertiary liberal arts institution with a Christian education heritage. It was established as Hong Kong Baptist College with the support of American Baptists, who provided both operati ...

. He worked in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

from 1988, and became a naturalized United States citizen. He obtained a Master's degree in Social Work from

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

, and a Ph.D. degree in Social Welfare from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

in 1991 while serving as the head of the

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...

Chinese Community Council. One of his grandparents was born in Peru. On moving back to

in 1996, he became a lecturer at the

Hong Kong Polytechnic University The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is a public research university located in Hung Hom, Hong Kong near Hung Hom station. The University is one of the eight government-funded degree-granting tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. Founded ...

. He became the vice-convener of Civil Human Rights Front in 2002, where he had developed a close relationship with the pro-democrats. He joined the functional constituency of social welfare of the Legislative Council in 2004. Cheung introduced a motion for the referendum on

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political sta ...

for the 2007 chief executive elections in Hong Kong. The

Standing Committee of the National People's Congress The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPCSC) is the permanent body of the National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which is the highest organ of state po ...

had outlawed universal suffrage for 2007 and 2008, and the Hong Kong government under Chief Executive

Tung Chee-hwa Tung Chee-hwa (; born 7 July 1937) is a Hong Kong businessman and politician who served as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong between 1997 and 2005, upon the transfer of sovereignty on 1 July. He is currently a vice-chairman of the Chi ...

said that it had to abide by this decision. After an unsuccessful bid in the New Territories West constituency in 2008, he rejoined the Legislative Council in 2012 as a representative of

New Territories East New Territories East is the eastern part of New Territories, covering North, Tai Po, Sha Tin, and Sai Kung District. History All districts except Sai Kung District have been connected by the Kowloon–Canton Railway (now East Rail line) since it ...

, and was reelected in 2016. During the

2014 Hong Kong protests A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014. The protests began after t ...

, Cheung acted as a mediator between the two sides, advocating for the protests to remain peaceful. He appeared together with fellow pro-democratic lawmaker Claudia Mo at the Mong Kok protest site on 19 October, resulting in a widening of the buffer zone; no clashes were reported for the night. On 19 November, Cheung and others tried to stop radical protesters from breaking into the side-entrance to the

Legislative Council Complex The Legislative Council Complex (LegCo Complex) is the headquarters of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. The complex is located at 1 Legislative Council Road, Central, Hong Kong. Construction of the LegCo Complex commenced in 2008 and was ...

, but were pushed aside. In July 2018, Cheung declared that he would not stand in the 2020 Legislative Council elections, which were later

postponed Postponed (foaled 4 April 2011) is an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. He won one minor race as a two-year-old before establishing himself as a useful middle-distance performer in the following year with wins in the Glasgow S ...

to 2021. Cheung was inside the LegCo building with protesters after it was stormed on 1 July 2019 during the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. He expressed relief that the protesters had safely vacated the building, and had grabbed those refusing to leave.

National Security Law and resignation

In July 2020, after the introduction of the

Hong Kong national security law The Hong Kong national security law, officially the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a piece of national security legislation concerning Hong Kong. It ...

in the city on 30 June 2020, Cheung said on a programme by public broadcaster

RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service in Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econo ...

that the law had turned Hong Kong from an international city into an ordinary Chinese city overnight, and that he expected an exodus of professionals and young people. He warned the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

against trying to impose travel restrictions on the city's residents, saying that this would only increase discontent, and against restricting access to the internet, as this would only destabilize social and economic conditions in the city. On 11 November 2020, 15 democratic lawmakers including Cheung resigned en masse in protest of a decision made by the central government in Beijing the same day, authorizing the Hong Kong government to dismiss politicians who were deemed to be a threat under the national security law. Cheung said that the initial dismissals, which had concerned four democrats, "signifie that the Chinese Communist Party is willing to break laws and rules to eradicate the opposition", and that even if the other democrats had remained in the Legislative Council, the loss of the votes meant that they could have been impeached one by one.

Arrest and conviction on LegCo contempt charge

Cheung was arrested on 1 November 2020, along with six other democrats, in connection with a melee that had broken out in the LegCo on 8 May 2020 when Starry Lee, chair of the LegCo House Committee, commenced a meeting of the Committee after extended stalling tactics of the pan-democratic camp over the previous months. Cheung had repeatedly chanted "Starry Lee abused her powers" in front of her. He pleaded guilty to a contempt charge but not wrongdoing, saying that his persecution had been politically motivated. He was sentenced to three weeks jail on 4 February 2022, the first such conviction since indirect LegCo elections were introduced in 1985. As of 3 May 2022, Cheung is reported to have arrived in Toronto with his family.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheung, Fernando 1957 births Living people Alumni of Hong Kong Baptist University Alumni of St. Paul's College, Hong Kong Hong Kong emigrants to the United States Hong Kong educators Hong Kong social workers UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare alumni Civic Party politicians Labour Party (Hong Kong) politicians Hong Kong social democrats Hong Kong people of Peruvian descent Hong Kong Polytechnic University faculty HK LegCo Members 2004–2008 HK LegCo Members 2012–2016 HK LegCo Members 2016–2021 Macau emigrants to Hong Kong People with acquired American citizenship prisoners and detainees of the People's Republic of China