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Joyce Ng

Hong Kong needs to use national education to “guide” youth who took part in the Occupy protests three years ago instead of bad-mouthing them, a former Beijing representative based in the city before its handover to China in 1997 has suggested.
In an interview with the official China News Service, Zhang Junsheng, former deputy director of Xinhua News Agency, struck a sympathetic tone as he talked about the city where he was stationed for 13 years until his retirement in 1998.

Xinhua’s Hong Kong branch was the predecessor of the central government’s liaison office in the city.
Zhang, 81, this week received a group of young Hongkongers at Zhejiang University, where he serves as chairman of its development committee.
Do nine Occupy defendants face overlapping charges? Hong Kong judge asks prosecutors
He said Hong Kong still had a competitive edge 20 years after the handover, being the freest economy and having a sound legal system.
But after two decades of the “one country, two systems” formula, it was time for a review, and figuring out how to guide young people should be a key component of the exercise, he said.
Education implemented by the colonial government estranged Hongkongers from their country
Zhang Junsheng, former Xinhua official
“[The reason behind] Occupy Central and Hong Kong independence is that Hong Kong had been under British colonial rule for a long time,” the news service quoted Zhang as saying.
“Education implemented by the colonial government estranged Hongkongers from their country. People have thin understanding of the country, and there is instigation by external forces.”
Young people who took part in the civil disobedience movement for universal suffrage “should not be bad-mouthed because they have gone astray”, he said.
“Wrong understanding led to wrong actions,” he added, with the way forward involving stepping up national education to guide wayward youth.
Zhang also advised them to seize career opportunities arising from China’s Belt and Road Initiative to open up international trade along a new Silk Route, and the Greater Bay Area joint development plan between Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong province.
Beware the gradual growth of pro-independence thought, warns Hong Kong leader CY Leung
Zhang, known for his criticism of the pre-handover British colonial administration, has spoken about Hong Kong from time to time after the handover.
In 2014, he rejected a poll meant to serve as a “referendum” on Hong Kong’s electoral reform, organised by Occupy Central founders, in which 720,000 people cast votes before the mass sit-ins. He said the organisers could not put pressure on Beijing, no matter how many people joined the exercise, which was not legally binding.


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Article 23 and the tragedy of Hong Kong

Occupy Central

Hong Kong should use national education to ‘guide’ youth who took part in Occupy protests, ex-Xinhua official urges

Zhang Junsheng was stationed in Hong Kong with Xinhua News Agency for 13 years. Photo: Felix Wong

HONG KONG, China - Prodemocracy protesters hold their smartphones and chant slogans on a main road in central Hong Kong on the night of Sept. 30, 2014. (Kyodo)

Do nine Occupy defendants face overlapping charges? Hong Kong judge asks prosecutors

The nine defendants (left to right): Tommy Cheung Sau-yin, Raphael Wong Ho-ming, Lee Wing-tat, Benny Tai Yiu-ting, Shiu Ka-chun, Dr Chan Kin-man, Tanya Chan and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, in Wan Chai on Thursday. Photo: Dickson Lee

News

Hong Kong

Politics

Former long-time Xinhua News Agency official claims ‘wrong understanding led to wrong actions’


Zhang Junsheng, former deputy director of Xinhua News Agency, struck a sympathetic tone as he talked about the city where he was stationed for 13 years until his retirement in 1998.


Hong Kong localism and independence