The Hong Kong government was yesterday accused of “brainwashing” after it suggested schools broadcast to students a live address by a Beijing official visiting the territory.
It comes as concern grows that Chinese authorities are squeezing the semi-autonomous territory’s freedoms in a range of areas, from politics to media and education.
The Hong Kong Education Bureau said it sent schools information about a seminar on Hong Kong’s Basic Law and invited them to broadcast it, but added that it was voluntary.
Pro-democracy lawmakers said that schools now felt under pressure to show it.
“This is very, very strange. In Hong Kong, we have not had anything like this,” said Hong Kong Legislative Council member Ip Kin-yuen (葉建源), who represents the education sector.
Schools were asked to reply to the government whether they would be broadcasting the event, he said.
“The schools will very naturally feel the pressure from the government,” Ip said.
Pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo (毛孟靜) said it was part of Beijing’s bid to re-educate Hong Kong’s youth in the wake of 2014’s “Umbrella movement” protests calling for political reform and the emergence of an independence movement that wants to see a complete split from China.
“[Chinese authorities] are furious that the Hong Kong young are not patriotic,” Mo said.
“It’s a huge attempt at brainwashing,” she added.
The bureau said the seminar, which is to be held in Hong Kong next month, was part of celebrations marking 20 years since the territory was handed back to China by Britain.
It is to include a 50-minute speech by high-ranking Chinese official Li Fei (李飛) about Hong Kong’s “role and mission” under the Basic Law as a Special Administrative Region of China, local media said.
The bureau told reporters it would “allow schools to decide whether or not to make arrangements for students to watch the live broadcast.”
A proposal to introduce patriotic lessons into schools, known as “national education,” was shelved in 2012 after more than 100,000 protesters rallied against it outside government offices, led by then-15-year-old Joshua Wong (黃之鋒).
However, there are fears in the democracy camp that it is back on the agenda.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) this month announced that teaching Chinese history would be compulsory in secondary schools from next year.
Chinese Minister of Education Chen Baosheng (陳寶生) on Monday said that teachers in Hong Kong “need to love the country first.”
In an interview with Hong Kong broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong, Chen added that Hong Kong needed to reintroduce national education and branded worries about brainwashing as “ignorant.”
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
RSS