Communist Party mouthpiece accuses Hong Kong university student unions of ‘selling’ independence under guise of free speech
Commentary in overseas edition of People’s Daily says students and academics have turned campuses into their own political stage
A Communist Party mouthpiece lashed out at university student unions in the city on Thursday, accusing them of touting Hong Kong independence under the guise of free speech and academic research, an act it compared to “selling dog meat but displaying a sheep’s head”.
“Using the ‘sheep’s head’ of freedom of speech and academic research to sell the ‘dog meat’ of ‘civil disobedience’ and ‘self-determination’ of Hong Kong is not something new,” read the commentary published in the overseas edition of the state-run People’s Daily, making use of a Chinese saying to describe trickery or false advertising. The phrase “not something new” was referring to the 79-day pro-democracy Occupy movement in 2014.
“This time, the parties involved have tried their best to cover up their calls for ‘independence’ in the name of a ‘learned society’ … muddling the distinctions between ‘academic discussion’ and ‘political advocacy’ merely to endorse their own unlawful activities,” the piece said.
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The newspaper also called out students and academics, saying they had used freedom of speech as a shield and turned university campuses into their own political stage.