EJ Insight » Hong KongToday, 11:40
Hong Kong’s next generation must fight for the city’s right to self-determination on its political status after 2047, when a Sino-British treaty related to the territory’s handover will expire, says an article in Undergrad, the official magazine of the Hong Kong University Students’ Union.
The article, published in the magazine’s latest issue, suggests that Hong Kong should become an independent sovereign state after 2047, and that prostrating before the Chinese Communist Party shouldn’t be an option.
The 48-page article, titled “The Declaration of Hong Kong’s Youth Generation”, claimed that young people have been trying to conduct dialogues with the older generation, only to be ignored and misunderstood, Apple Daily reported.
The younger generation has endless commitment to protect the place where they grew up and would never want to see Hong Kong end up being annexed, the article said.
The new generation should take up the fight for self-determination even at the risk of being labeled as rioters, it said.
For post-2047 era, the article calls for three things — making Hong Kong an independent sovereign state recognized by the United Nations, building a democratic government, and formulating an own constitution.
The pronouncement is the second of its kind in the HKU student magazine in the recent past.
Last year, a book published by the magazine argued that Hong Kong has its own way of life and that it should work toward self-determination of its future.
Responding to the latest article, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said it is indisputable that Hong Kong has historically been part of China, and that “keeping Hong Kong unchanged for 50 years” as specified in the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 refers only to capitalism and lifestyle.
But Marcus Lau Yee-ching, former chief editor of Undergrad who helped write the latest article, refuted Leung’s claims by saying that Hong Kong has been open for trade since 1841 and hence it should not be considered as part of People’s Republic of China that was established in 1949.
Arthur Li, chairman of HKU’s governing body, lashed out at the Undergrad article, saying that talk of Hong Kong independence is nonsense.
However, he said that students have the right to express their views.
“I am proud of being born as both a Hongkonger, as well as a Chinese. If anyone desires to become Japanese, be my guest,” Li said.
Former justice secretary Elsie Leung Oi-sie, who is deputy director of the NPC Standing Committee’s Basic Law Committee, said Hong Kong independence will never happen.
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