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Hong Kong localism, independence
OpinionLetters

Hong Kong’s student localists can achieve little without engaging Beijing

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Members of the University of Hong Kong’s student union clean the Pillar of Shame commemorating the Tiananmen crackdown, in Pok Fu Lam on June 4. However, Hong Kong’s eight student unions boycotted the Victoria Park vigil on the day, suggesting it was irrelevant to locals. Photo: K. Y. Cheng
Letters
In recent years, localism has become the main political ideology of most university student unions, which emphasise that Hong Kong is different from the mainland.
Many such “localist” union officers are no longer interested in current affairs on the mainland, just because they do not support its political system. Union leaders argue that Hongkongers aren’t responsible for fighting for the end of one-party rule and for democracy on the mainland.
Reading news reports about all eight student unions of local universities again boycotting the annual June 4 vigil of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, I was reminded of the annual elections at my college union.
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During the election forum, I asked the officers the reason for fighting for democracy for Hong Kong only. They told me that struggling for all of China was more “costly” than promoting “self-determination”, because the veterans’ efforts have been in vain despite their decades-long struggle. The officers also believe that Hong Kong should avoid any influence from the mainland.

A man wipes the face of a statue of the Goddess of Democracy at Victoria Park on June 4, ahead of the annual candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the Chinese government's military crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989. Photo: AP
A man wipes the face of a statue of the Goddess of Democracy at Victoria Park on June 4, ahead of the annual candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the Chinese government's military crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989. Photo: AP

Calls for end to one-party rule will not cease, Hong Kong’s June 4 vigil organiser vows

Perhaps their frustration at the lack of democratic progress is just an excuse. Their irrational opposition towards all of mainland China has limited their vision.

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