What’s making Hong Kong school students talk about independence from China?
Localism in Hong Kong appears to have a small but growing segment of supporters – school students
Lo Ka-wing always moves to another carriage whenever he hears discussions in Mandarin by mainlanders as he takes the MTR to school.
Born a year after the city’s handover to China, the 18-year-old Hongkonger says he has no feelings at all towards his home country.
Startling as the claim may be, Lo is not alone, but one of a clutch of students at his secondary school who set up a group to advocate the idea of Hong Kong independence.
“Independence is the only way out for sure as Hong Kong is never going to have democracy under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party,” he told This Week in Asia confidently. “Only by breaking away from China can Hongkongers truly have a say in their government.”
Lo’s group is one of more than 20 to have appeared in secondary schools across the SAR over summer – a development at odds with Beijing’s determination to ban all pro-independence advocates from the city’s legislature.