Global Times hits out at Chinese University students for opposing PLA visit
Global Times attacks union, which says troop activities have a political agenda
The Communist Party mouthpiece has hit out at the Chinese University students' union for opposing a planned visit to the Sha Tin campus by troops from the People's Liberation Army's Hong Kong garrison.
CUHK postponed the visit, originally slated for yesterday, at the last minute after objections from student leaders and alumni. No new date has been set yet.
The university announced the postponement on Thursday, saying the visit would have "failed to achieve its original purpose".
Members of the students' union and about 10 alumni had signed a petition urging the university to cancel the one-day visit. About 100 soldiers would have appeared on the campus to take part in a ball game and other activities with students.
Yesterday, Wong Ching-fung, president of the students' union, urged the university to cancel the whole thing rather than postpone it.
"The garrison is supposed to observe its sole duty of defending the city, not join social activities," he said. "The criticism from the Communist Party mouthpiece shows the visit is more than just a social activity; there is a political agenda behind it."
, a tabloid subsidiary of the , said in an editorial yesterday that the students' union was arrogant for criticising the PLA over its role in the Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Beijing in 1989.
Earlier the union, which was supportive of the protests, had said the PLA served as "the claws of the Chinese national machinery". It said the university visit would symbolise government suppression of academic independence.
The editorial described the students' union's accusations about the PLA's role in the infamous incident and its worries about academic independence as "ear-piercing noise".
It went on to say "their behaviour is ridiculous and ignorant of how high the sky and how deep the earth are".
The newspaper pointed out that the Hong Kong garrison had visited seven other tertiary institutions in the city and "no protest had ever taken place".
The union's hostility to the garrison was shocking to mainlanders and was at odds with the country's constitution and Hong Kong's Basic Law, the newspaper added.
Wong countered that the garrison's trips to the other universities had shown the Communist Party had stepped up its united front work in the city's universities and academic circles.
