New HKU student leader Althea Suen says independence is ‘viable way’ for Hong Kong
University of Hong Kong student union president says localist thinking is ‘natural’, but DAB lawmaker warns this will lead city to ‘dead end’
The University of Hong Kong’s newly elected student body leader confirmed on Friday morning that she supported Hong Kong’s independence, saying that it is a “viable way” for the city.
But a pro-Beijing lawmaker dismissed the suggestion and warned that independence is only “a dead end”.
During a Commercial Radio programme, HKU student union president Althea Suen was asked if she supported Hong Kong’s independence. She said: “I think it is a viable solution, so I support it.”
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Suen was speaking a week after hundreds of protesters clashed with the police in Mong Kok last Monday night in the worst violence Hong Kong has seen in decades. About 130 people, including 90 police officers, were injured, and about 70 people have been arrested so far.
For me, it is natural or unarguable to have localist thinking as I regard Hong Kong as my home, and want to safeguard the interests of the people here as well as to defend our core values.
Localist group Hong Kong Indigenous has been singled out for condemnation as its members were identified as rioters. Beijing’s liaison office chief Zhang Xiaoming also branded them “radical separatists”, putting them in a similar category to separatists in Tibet and Xinjiang.
When asked if she supported localism, Suen said: “Some equate localism with Hong Kong’s independence and say it’s bad. But for me, it is natural or unarguable to have localist thinking as I regard Hong Kong as my home, and want to safeguard the interests of the people here as well as to defend our core values.”
The 20-year-old social work student also said: “It is unacceptable to inflict bodily harm on someone else. I won’t take the lead to do that as the student union president. Instead, I would try the means that are allowed in the system, such as a ‘non-cooperative movement’.”
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Academics and pro-establishment lawmakers have argued that it would be impossible for Hong Kong, a small economy dependent on mainland China, to survive if it becomes independent.
But in a phone interview with the Post on Friday morning, Suen said independence is not an unthinkable taboo.
“We are just exploring the idea, and we would not ignore factors such as economic ones ... I don’t think Hong Kong could not survive without [mainland] China as we are an international city, and it is impossible for economic exchanges to end between the city and the mainland,” she said.
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However, Ip Kwok-him, a Beijing-loyalist lawmaker from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, told the Post that independence is impossible.
“It’s not a matter of whether we can survive or not. It is sad to see that our university students are ignoring the political reality that we are part of the country ... and want to leave it. Hong Kong residents don’t want to see that,” he said.
“This kind of separatism would only take Hong Kong to a dead end,” he added.
