Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Hong Kong students duped into joining army group: SCMP

HONG KONG — More than 100 Hong Kong students who took part in a ceremony marking the start of a military-style youth organisation were told they would be there as spectators, the South China Morning Post reported.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying gives his annual policy address at the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, Jan 14, 2015. In his annual policy address outlining the government’s priorities for 2015, Leung also warned the city would “degenerate into anarchy” if democratic development did not follow the rule of law. Photo: AP

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying gives his annual policy address at the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, Jan 14, 2015. In his annual policy address outlining the government’s priorities for 2015, Leung also warned the city would “degenerate into anarchy” if democratic development did not follow the rule of law. Photo: AP

HONG KONG — More than 100 Hong Kong students who took part in a ceremony marking the start of a military-style youth organisation were told they would be there as spectators, the South China Morning Post reported.

Many of the students who took part in the inauguration ceremony of the Hong Kong Army Cadets Association on Sunday (Jan 18) were recruited to make the event look good, the newspaper reported today (Jan 20), citing comments to an online news service made by one student identified as Jackie. Students were told they would get a free People’s Liberation Army uniform if they attended the ceremony, the paper reported.

At the event the uniformed students were presented to a select group of media as volunteers for the group. The youth association is backed by the Hong Kong government and the local PLA garrison. Madam Regina Leung Tong Ching-yee, wife of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, is its “commander-in-chief” and attended the event. The oath-taking ceremony was also attended by Mr Zhang Xiaoming, director of China’s liaison office in the city.

The newly created cadet group highlights China’s rising concern with Hong Kong students, who led the unprecedented pro-democracy protests last quarter in an attempt to remove Chinese limits on the city’s election. Mr Leung last week criticised a university publication in his annual policy address for advocating self-determination, and said young people need to be guided better.

“The cadet group was established recently and I believe it can improve transparency in the future, to make the public know the nature of its activities, the group’s vision etc.,” Mr Leung said in remarks to reporters today in Hong Kong.

The creation of the cadet group doesn’t mean the People’s Liberation Army is interfering in Hong Kong affairs, the city’s Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-sing told reporters yesterday. BLOOMBERG

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.