If Hong Kong encroaches on ‘one country’, don’t cry when China erodes ‘two systems’
Philip Yeung says free speech in Hong Kong universities must have limits, if the city is to maintain the delicate balance of ‘one country, two systems’. It is one thing to have students fighting for universal suffrage, quite another for them to advocate separation
But opposing it and banning talk of it are not the same thing. The head of Chinese University, for example, says that as long as the topic is discussed rationally and nonviolently, it is permissible, to which independence activists reply that they are in full compliance. The government wants to set a third condition: the activity in question must not breach Hong Kong law. Its argument is compelling. For, how do you defend something that is illegal?
Barely into the first week of the school year, student leaders of three local universities have used the inauguration ceremony to spout off about being in favour of an independent Hong Kong. Like a spreading virus, they are sure to be followed by their peers in other universities.
But what is there to discuss? The topic is dead on arrival. Illegality aside, it is sheer insanity. Hong Kong can’t afford self-rule. Without China, it is doomed. Even our water supply comes from the north. Why waste time listening to the dribble of historically ignorant hotheads who are still wet behind the ears?
