HK's education must hold fast to right direction of 'one country, two systems': spokesperson
People's Daily
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BEIJING, June 12 (Xinhua) - Education in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) must hold fast to the right direction of the "one country, two systems" principle, a central government spokesperson said Friday.

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(File photo: CFP)

The spokesperson of the State Council Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office made the remarks while commenting on certain people in Hong Kong using middle school students to oppose the national security legislation for the HKSAR.

The necessity and urgency of establishing and improving at the national level the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the HKSAR to safeguard national security have been widely recognized by Hong Kong society since the National People's Congress (NPC) made the relevant decision on May 28, the spokesperson said.

Inciting middle school students to boycott classes was an attempt to use the children as "shells" and "tools" to prevent the NPC Standing Committee from passing national security legislation related to the HKSAR. "How despicable their behaviors are!" said the spokesperson.

By doing so, Joshua Wong and other instigators for so-called "Hong Kong independence" are adding another lengthy page to their criminal records, the spokesperson noted.

"Since the unrest following the proposed ordinance amendments last year, students and children have paid an unbearable and painful price," the spokesperson said, noting that a considerable number of young people and students discarded their books and rushed to the streets to participate in radical violent crimes.

Of the 8,981 people arrested for illegal activities related to the unrest as of May 29, more than 40 percent were students, with the youngest being 11 years old, according to data from the Hong Kong police.

The charges against these arrested young students include participation in a riot, unlawful assembly, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, arson, criminal damage, possession of an assault weapon and assaulting police officers, many of which are felonies, according to the spokesperson.

Once convicted, such a criminal record and stain will weigh heavily on them for a long time, destroying what should have been bright futures, the spokesperson said, adding that all people with a conscience are distressed, anxious and worried about these youngsters.

Education in quite a number of Hong Kong schools has severely deviated from the right direction of "one country, two systems," with the spread of trumpeting for "Hong Kong independence" and violence in campuses, the spokesperson said.

In their distortions, some teachers in Hong Kong openly claimed that Britain invaded China during the Opium War for the purpose of eradicating opium, while Hong Kong students were even asked in exams if they agree that Japan did China more good than harm from 1900 to 1945, during which Japan occupied many parts of China via its aggressions.

If the educational chaos in Hong Kong cannot be stopped, its political chaos will be endless, added the spokesperson.

Hong Kong's education system must firmly uphold the core values including patriotism, rule of law and harmony, noted the spokesperson, calling on the whole society to mobilize for eradicating from campus all rhetoric instigating "Hong Kong independence" and violence.

Education in Hong Kong is of vital importance not only for the HKSAR, but for the whole nation as well, the spokesperson said, vowing zero tolerance for poisoning the education, schools or the students. Enditem