Rows of fidgeting Hong Kong schoolchildren looked on as a short film explained what constitutes a national security crime, using former US president Donald Trump as an example — and a warning.
The TV was surrounded by dozens of stuffed panda toys, which the children were assured they could play with later if they listened attentively.
The screening was at Hong Kong’s first patriotic education center, which teaches students about the territory’s National Security Law, as well as China’s history and achievements.
Photo: AFP
Beijing imposed the law on Hong Kong to snuff out dissent after huge and sometimes violent democracy protests in 2019 — and schools have been ordered to instill a new sense of patriotism into children.
As the new academic year began on Thursday, another group of about 40 students from Pui Kiu College, known for its patriotic teaching, were among the first visitors.
“Can anyone tell me why national security matters,” a retired teacher-turned-volunteer guide, who gave her surname as Kan, asked the chirping crowd.
“Without national security, humankind cannot live well,” a student answered.
“Well said,” Kan replied. “People cannot live well, nor can the pandas.”
Kan told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that her “most important” task was helping children understand the four new offences under the security law: secession, subversion, collusion with foreign forces and terrorism.
During Kan’s talk, Trump and the US Capitol Hill riot on Jan. 6 last year were used to illustrate subversion — the offense of trying to topple or undermine the government.
For foreign collusion, she used jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英) — without naming him.
Lai and senior editors from the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper are to face collusion charges for allegedly lobbying for international sanctions against Hong Kong.
Then Kan turned to the moment the Hong Kong Legislative Council was broken into by democracy protesters in 2019.
“What offense was committed by the children who looked like they were going mad in the Legislative Council,” Kan asked.
“Terrorism,” some students replied.
“They didn’t set a fire or kill people,” Kan said, nudging them toward the offense of subversion.
The center is operated by the territory’s largest pro-Beijing teachers union in a vacated school at the foot of Lion Rock — a mountain popularly considered a symbol of Hong Kong’s can-do spirit.
Until recently, Hong Kong teachers could also join a pro-democracy union, but it closed in the wake of the political crackdown.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee (李家超), a former security official who helped lead the crackdown on the 2019 protests, attended the center’s inauguration ceremony in July.
“In the past, some ill-intentioned people ... smeared national education for a long time,” he said at the time. “I fully believe the center will become ... a learning field that nurtures a new generation of youth who love China and Hong Kong.”
Kan told AFP that she used to attend the annual vigils in Hong Kong to commemorate democracy protesters killed by Chinese troops in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.
“But after I saw how violent it became on TV [in 2019], I had a big turn,” she said as tears welled up in her eyes. “I regret how late I began to love my country.”
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