HKU council chairman calls Post interview with outgoing vice chancellor Peter Mathieson ‘fake news’
Arthur Li, also a member of Carrie Lam’s cabinet, alleged that the article misquoted Peter Mathieson as saying Beijing’s liaison office in the city regularly interfered with his work
The chairman of the University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) governing body, Arthur Li, on Wednesday repeatedly accused the South China Morning Post of publishing “fake news” in its interview with the institution’s outgoing vice chancellor, Peter Mathieson.
Li alleged that the article misquoted Mathieson as saying Beijing’s liaison office in the city interfered with his work, even though this was not how the Post reported the university don’s remarks during a recent farewell interview he gave to the paper.
Mathieson was appointed in April 2014 for a five-year term but announced his resignation last year.
In a frank hour-long interview conducted in December [see below for an excerpt of the Q&A], he told the Post that like all university leaders, he had conversations with Beijing’s representative in the city.
He also revealed that he felt pressure from “everybody” – politicians across the spectrum, alumni, students, staff and the media.
A turbulent tenure: HKU vice chancellor reflects on his time at the helm of Hong Kong’s oldest university
However Li, in a live webcast on Wednesday, said he was shocked to read the article, as it “seemed to me that Mathieson had been under pressure from the liaison office all the time but he never told me about those communications”.