Expelled scholar plans return to HK

US academic Li Shaomin (李少民), convicted in Beijing of spying and expelled, wants to return to his university post in Hong Kong, setting the stage for a major test of the territory's promised autonomy under Chinese rule.

In an interview with Hong Kong's Sunday Morning Post newspaper, Li said he wanted to return to life where he left off before his arrest in southern China in February.

"If there is one central theme running through my mind after all of this, it is that I just want to return to live a normal life in Hong Kong," he was quoted as saying.

Li flew to the US after being expelled last week and was interviewed by the Post in Washington. "My father is in Hong Kong, my home is in Hong Kong. I want to sleep in my own bed," he said. "I want my daughter to go to her school. I see no reason why I should not be able to settle back to a normal existence after all of this."

It may not be so easy.

His return to Hong Kong, reunited with China in 1997 after 150 years of British rule, poses a major test of the territory's autonomy within communist China.

United under a "one country, two systems" formula, Hong Kong got to keep its capitalist economy and British Common Law tradition for 50 years, but Beijing controls all foreign and defense policy.

Views are mixed on how the "one country, two systems" formula applies in this case. The legal systems are separate so Li's conviction may not count in Hong Kong but he was convicted of spying on one country, which includes China and Hong Kong.

Li maintained his innocence at his trial and denies China's allegation that he confessed to spying for Taiwan.

"I am innocent. I am not a spy. I don't need to explain it any more than that," Li, a marketing professor at Hong Kong's City University, told the Post.

Many of his colleagues have said they expect him to slip back smoothly into his post but pro-Beijing politicians in Hong Kong have been much less welcoming. They have said Li was expelled from China, and that includes Hong Kong, and at the very least Hong Kong should seek Beijing's permission before letting Li return.

So far Beijing's handpicked Hong Kong leader, Tung Chee-hwa (董建華), has dodged questions about Li, facing the uncomfortable choice of appearing to kow-tow to China by keeping Li out or having to defy Beijing by letting him in.