Holden Chow

Holden Chow
周浩鼎
Chow after the 2016 New Territories East by-election
Vice-Chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 April 2015
Chairman	Starry Lee
Preceded by	Ann Chiang Starry Lee
Member of the Islands District Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 January 2015
Preceded by	Chow Chuen-heung
Constituency	Tung Chung South
In office 1 January 2011 – 31 December 2015
Constituency	Appointed
Personal details
Born	1979 (age 36–37) Hong Kong
Nationality	Hong Kong Chinese
Political party	Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong
Alma mater	London School of Economics University of Hong Kong
Occupation	Solicitor
Religion	Christianity

Holden Chow Ho-ding (Chinese: 周浩鼎, born 1979) is a Hong Kong solicitor and politician. He is vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), the largest Beijing-loyalist party in Hong Kong, and a former chairman of Young DAB, its youth wing.

Career

Chow is a solicitor with Rita Law & Co. He was an observer of the Independent Police Complaints Council from 2010 to 2014 and an appointed member of the Equal Opportunities Commission from 2013 to 2015.^[1] In 2012, he was appointed to the Islands District Council and started working for New World Development as a legal counsel.

He became the chairman of Young DAB, the youth branch of the largest Beijing-loyalist party in Hong Kong, and a member of the party's Executive Committee in 2009. In April 2015 when chairman Tam Yiu-chung retired, Chow was elected vice-chairman along with the new chairwoman Starry Lee.

In 2015 District Council election, he won the Tung Chung South constituency on the Islands District Council, successfully holding it for DAB.

In February 2016, he stood unsuccessfully in the 2016 New Territories East by-election. Representing not only his party but the entire mainstream pro-Beijing camp,^[2] he placed second behind the Civic Party's Alvin Yeung, receiving 150,329 votes, 10,551 fewer than his rival.^[3]

Political views

Chow often criticises the pan-democracy camp, questioning whether someone who truly loved China would demand an end to one-party rule, as the Beijing government required the Chief Executive candidate to love China and love Hong Kong and wanted to exclude the pan-democrats.^[4]

Chow challenged Jimmy Lai, the boss of the pro-democracy Next Media and supporter of the pro-democracy Occupy Central, for meeting United States Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.^[5] He also criticised a call for Hong Kong's independence from China as irresponsible.^[6]

Chow refused to express his stance on whether Chief Executive CY Leung should hold the position after 2017.

References

1. "Appointment of members of Equal Opportunities Commission (Issued by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region)". Equal Opportunities Commission. 10 May 2013.
2. Lam, Jeffie; Chung, Kam-chung (3 January 2016). "Rising young Hong Kong politician Holden Chow joins Legislative Council by-election fray". South China Morning Post.
3. "2016 Legislative Council Geographical Constituency New Territories By-election - Election Result". Electoral Affairs Commission. 29 February 2016.
4. Cheung, Tony (12 April 2013). "HK's young politicos confident in patriotism, divided on one-party rule". South China Morning Post.
5. "Jimmy Lai wards off criticism over Wolfowitz meeting". ejinsight. 23 June 2014.
6. "Heat rises at forum on talk of independence". The Standard. 19 January 2015.

External links

• Holden Chow official web site
• Holden Chow official Facebook page