Ever since he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Liu Xiaobo has come under severe criticism both in China and overseas for being a 'racist' and for 'supporting all-out Westernisation'.
Such denunciations are based on an interview he gave in 1988 to Kaifang (Open) magazine. Asked what conditions China needed to bring about genuine transformation, he answered that Hong Kong became what it is after 100 years of colonisation and China, being much bigger, needed 300 years of colonisation.
The Global Times, in an editorial, alluded to this when it said that China would 'never be a sub-civilisation', but would follow its own road map to political reform.
Such critics, however, seem to forget what Sun Yat-sen, universally revered as the father of modern China, had to say about colonialism in Hong Kong, where he lived and studied for many years, first at Queen's College and then at the Hong Kong College of Medicine, the precursor of the University of Hong Kong.
Sun's views were expressed in a speech to the students' union of the university in February 1923. He was introduced by the union president, Edward Hotung, whose father, Sir Robert Hotung, had helped finance the revolution led by Sun, which led to the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912.
Sun said he got his revolutionary ideas in 'this very place, in the colony of Hong Kong'. He said: 'Hong Kong impressed me a great deal, because there was orderly calm and because there was artistic work being done without interruption. I went to my home in Heungshan [now Zhongshan] twice a year and immediately noticed the great difference. There was disorder instead or order, insecurity instead of security.'