Why Beijing came down so hard on pro-democracy academic Benny Tai over Hong Kong independence comments

Furious reaction to mere suggestion of city’s breakaway sparks concerns over free speech in the city as calls for – and fear of – national security laws resurface

Reading Time:7 minutes

Benny Tai admitted his star had dimmed since he co-led the Occupy protests of 2014. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 7:00am, 13 Apr 2018Updated: 10:28am, 13 Apr 2018

As Hongkongers savoured the final hours of the four-day Easter break earlier this month, legal scholar Benny Tai Yiu-ting was busy calling off his social plans and checking that no surveillance devices had been put on his car or mobile phone.

On Good Friday, the government had issued an unusually harsh condemnation of the University of Hong Kong associate professor, for suggesting at a seminar in Taiwan that “Hong Kong could consider becoming an independent state”.

A volley of attacks followed. First, there were fiery rebukes by the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong. Next, seething denunciations in Beijing media such as the People’s Daily and state news agency Xinhua. In between, almost all of Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing lawmakers signed a statement criticising Tai.

A day after a pro-Beijing newspaper tailed and photographed him – despite his precautions against being followed – Tai expressed fears of “a powerful law enforcement agency” monitoring him.

“For the record, if you see me … about to cross the Hong Kong border to mainland China or Macau, please take the time to ask me if I’m leaving voluntarily,” he wrote on his public Facebook page.

How Beijing vs Benny Tai unfolded

In person, 53-year-old Tai comes across as earnest and sincere. He has never been linked to the scrappy antics of the city’s mostly youthful advocates of independence. He has also stated his opposition to Hong Kong breaking away from China.