Edit: It is probably worth being more careful in parsing this question, as observed in comments by @mikhail and @yves... First, $SU(p,q)$'s are not "complex" Lie groups, but real, even though the usual model uses complex numbers in the construction: complex conjugation is not complex-linear. Yes, the "strong" topology does arise as the subspace topology from the ambient complex space, in that model. Similarly, $SU(2,1)(K)$ is not really the $K$-rational points, but $\mathbb Q$-rational. For a commutative $\mathbb Q$-algebra $A$, the $A$-points are $SU(2,1)(K\otimes_{\mathbb Q}A)$. Thus, the complex points (in this more intrinsic sense) are isomorphic to $SL(3,\mathbb C)$.
Further, indeed, as @mikhail notes, the instantaneous conclusion that rational points are dense in the "strong" ("classical"?) topology does not follow so glibly from the unirationality per se, since all that truly guarantees (in general) is density in the much coarser Zariski topology. The refinement necessary to make this sort of argument work sometimes more generally, as in @yves' remark, perhaps makes it less persuasive as a causal mechanism, but it suggests that we are "close", in any case.

