Coronavirus: university president hits out at Hong Kong student union’s ‘Chinese pneumonia’ statement for ‘harming global Covid-19 fight’
- The term can stoke division, says HKUST’s Wei Shyy while criticising students’ allocation of anti-contagion funding as potentially discriminatory
- Student union defends its language as in keeping with other disease titles, rejects suggestion it discriminates
The president of a university in Hong Kong has accused its student union of using language that harms the global fight against Covid-19 when it referred to the disease as “Chinese pneumonia” in remarks he warned could promote discrimination and social division.
Wei Shyy, of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), also criticised the way the students distributed funding to help reduce the spread of infection, urging them to do so “irrespective of origin, political views, or other differences”.
A member of staff at HKUST was confirmed with the coronavirus on Wednesday after returning from a trip to the United States.
In a statement on Facebook that night, the student union referred to the case, saying it would work with the university to provide the latest coronavirus information to students.
The group also detailed the support it had provided to students, including funding those from Korea and Taiwan to buy masks and other protective gear.
