The Chinese Communist Party newspaper published an article accusing the University of Hong Kong student union of smearing “one country, two systems” in an open letter published recently on the university’s implementation of a national security education course, and warning the leaders of the university’s student union that “only jail and handcuffs await anti-China and rebellious elements in Hong Kong.
An article published by the People’s Daily on Sunday (April 18, 2021) said, “The HKUSU student union has repeatedly issued provocative statements, smearing one country, two systems and undermining the constitutional order, with outrageous arrogance and frantic temptation at the edge of the bottom line, and the time has come when such a student union must be regulated.”
The open letter mentioned in the article was written by the University of Hong Kong student union to President Zhang Xiang on Friday. The open letter mentions that the Hong Kong Education Secretary said last month that he had discussed with the presidents of subsidized universities the implementation of national security laws on campus, including mandatory national security education courses. The letter accuses Zhang Xiang of “being the head of the University of Hong Kong, but colluding with the presidents of the funded universities to carry out the government’s mission under the guise of national security.” The student union said that the University of Hong Kong, as one of the top institutions in Hong Kong, should be free from political influence and maintain the independence and autonomy of students, but the university is bending over backwards to the regime, willing to be a puppet and stifle academics.
The article in the People’s Daily said that the student union does not represent the majority of students, and even accused the members of the student union of being “not students at all, but thugs hiding in the campus.”
The article concludes by warning the student union president, “Just look at Zhou Ting, who is serving a prison sentence, and you will know that if you had known about this, you would not have done it in the first place, and that all that awaits anti-China rebels is jail and handcuffs.”
Hundreds of pro-democracy activists and student movement leaders have been arrested and sentenced since Beijing imposed national security laws on Hong Kong. Chow Ting, one of the former student movement leaders and a former member of the Hong Kong House of Representatives, was sentenced to 10 months in jail in early December last year in connection with the 2019 siege of the police headquarters by the anti-China sending movement.
Recent Comments