Hong Kong lecturer decries ‘political persecution’ after Polytechnic University lets him go over Chinese flag desecration

A Hong Kong localist lawmaker is set to lose his job as a university lecturer in disciplinary action over his court conviction for desecrating the Chinese and Hong Kong flags in the city’s legislature.

Cheng Chung-tai, of pro-democracy party Civic Passion, on Friday said he had received notice that Polytechnic University would not renew his contract as a teaching fellow at the Department of Applied Social Science when it ended in June.

Cheng, 34, said the decision was a result of disciplinary action related to his conviction last September for flipping over the small Chinese and Hong Kong flags in the Legislative Council in 2016, for which he was fined HK$5,000.
“Your conduct and conviction are inconsistent with the university’s commitment to quality education and aspirations to embrace internationalisation,” the lawmaker quoted PolyU as saying in a statement posted on Facebook.

Cheng said it amounted to “political persecution” as there was no appeal mechanism against the decision and the accusations made against him by the university were “ridiculous” and not related to his teaching performance during his six-year tenure.

Hong Kong lawmaker Cheng Chung-tai charged over upside down flags

The classes he was due to teach at the beginning of the next semester on Monday would be handed over to other staff, he added.