Beijing pumps US$2.27 million more into annual scholarships for Hong Kong and Macau students, but with tighter strings attached
One new requirement: recipients must ‘love the motherland and uphold the one country, two systems policy’
Beijing is injecting 15 million yuan (US$2.27 million) more each year into a scholarship fund for Hong Kong and Macau students enrolled in mainland universities but with a new, potentially controversial string attached – they must “love the motherland and uphold the ‘one country, two systems’ policy”.
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The new requirement was included in a document on scholarship guidelines for Hong Kong, Macau and overseas Chinese, jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Education in October to replace an earlier version in effect since 2006.
The other three requirements are: recipients should abide by China’s laws and their school rules; be honest, trustworthy and morally upright; and get good grades.
While scholarship recipients who violated the country’s laws and regulations, joined illegal social groups or organisations, or broke school rules would, as before, be deprived of their honours and prizes, the updated regulations added a new violation to the list.
Recipients who were responsible for words or actions opposing the “one country, two systems” governance principle, under which Hong Kong currently enjoys a high degree of autonomy, would also be disqualified.