Inappropriate to wave colonial flag
I refer to the article by Keane Shum (“Leung should remember his oath to keep Hong Kong free”, November 7).
He was plainly mixing up what he meant by displaying the five-star flag of China in his dormitory when he was at school in the United States with what the pro-independence group meant waving the British Hong Kong flag now in Hong Kong.
Shum meant simply “here is a Chinese student who is proud to be one” whereas the group holding up posters calling for Hong Kong independence meant that they would rather revert to being a British colony or go independent if they are to be treated as Chinese citizens.
This unspoken demand for independence is evident from what Dickson Cheung, the “spokesman of a group that has set up a Facebook page called ‘We are Hongkongers, not Chinese’” said, “We do not even want an SAR passport, but what can we do?” (“Love China or leave it, says Lu Ping”, November 1), which puts the flag waving into the category of things that one can do but should not do. It is rightly frowned upon.
The continued freedom pledged by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying should not be interpreted as being unfettered. And Lu Ping was right to point out that any Hongkongers who do not want to be Chinese citizens can renounce their citizenship but should not seek to undermine Hong Kong’s Chinese characteristics.
Peter Lok, Chai Wan