Ex-university student leaders argue over Hong Kong independence
Contentious issue gathers steam after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying lashed out at student publications for ‘advocating self-determination’
Two generations of student leaders at the University of Hong Kong crossed swords on Sunday over the issue of Hong Kong independence, after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying accused the current students’ union of advocating self-determination for the city.
Economics undergraduate Keyvin Wong Chun-kit, former editor of an HKU magazine that Leung criticised, admitted he personally supported the idea of independence, while Andrew Fung Wai-kwong, the union’s president in 1984, condemned it.
Fung, now Leung’s point man for media relations, said the students were “advocating independence … although Hong Kong has been a part of China since ancient times”.
A third former leader of the union, legislator Ip Kin-yuen, said students should be allowed to explore academic issues independently.
Hong Kong independence has become the latest hot topic in town since Leung, in his policy address on Wednesday, accused HKU students’ union magazine Undergrad of championing self-determination in its February and September issues, and in a book titled Hong Kong Nationalism.
Wong, Undergrad’s former assistant editor-in-chief, denied on Friday that the February edition was intended to promote independence.