Hong Kong’s Chinese University to impose ‘national security education’

Radio Free Asia

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) will impose the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) patriotic education program on all students starting in 2022, a source told Radio Free Asia.

Under newly revised core curriculum requirements, all students must complete the course “Understanding China Today” to graduate, the source said.

CUHK confirmed that it would introduce courses under its requirement to offer “national security education,” which is mandatory in all educational establishments beginning in kindergarten, after Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in July 2020, ushering in a crackdown on public dissent and political opposition.

“In accordance with Article 10 of the Hong Kong national security law, [we are required] to implement national security education through classroom teaching and other means to enhance national security awareness and promote law-abiding behavior by Hong Kong residents,” CUHK said.

The program will include a national security lecture as part of student orientation and related training for those conducting orientation activities.

The announcement follows similar moves at Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University, Baptist University, Lingnan University and Education University.

It also came as a number of outspoken academics announced their retirement from Hong Kong universities, citing discomfort with the new regime in the city’s education system.

“The reasons I retired are even more depressing than the broader changes happening [in Hong Kong], and people no longer recognize the culture at CUHK,” former CUHK politics lecturer Ivan Choy said.

“During the past year, they have disbanded the student union and removed the ‘Goddess of Democracy’ statues,” Choy said. “All of this made me very sad, and I felt it was time to retire early. I wanted to retire early and find something else to do, to feel good about myself.”

(Pictured: Students write notes at the former site of the Goddess of Democracy statue, a memorial for those killed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, which was removed from the Chinese University of Hong Kong campus in December 2021.)

Choy had already discontinued his regular column in the Ming Pao newspaper, which was recently denounced in the CCP’s Ta Kung Pao newspaper, sparking fears that Ming Pao could suffer the same fate as Apple Daily and other pro-democracy media outlets in Hong Kong that have been forced to close or relocate in recent months.

Ta Kung Pao accused Ming Pao of wanting to “take over Apple Daily’s role by inciting others” after it published an article on the removal of the “Goddess of Democracy,” the “Pillar of Shame” and other statues marking the Tiananmen Square massacre from university campuses across Hong Kong.

Choy said the new climate means that academics are far less likely to comment on social or political matters.

“Academics, especially the younger ones, may fear for their careers or their personal safety,” he said. “Also, there is far greater self-censorship in the media, which means fewer commentators.”

The national security law ushered in a citywide crackdown on public dissent and peaceful protest, including actions deemed “subversive” or otherwise undermining of authority. Dozens of opposition politicians, rights activists and journalists have been jailed, and prominent unions and civil society organizations have been shuttered.

IMAGE CREDIT: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS