President of Hong Kong's Lingnan University warns outspoken colleague to watch his words or 'bear the consequences'

The president of Lingnan University, Professor Leonard Cheng Kwok-hon, has warned a fellow-academic to be careful in his words and actions – or bear the consequences.

In a letter sent in March to Dr Horace Chin Wan-kan, an assistant professor in the university’s Chinese department, Cheng said he had received complaints from alumni and members of the public about Chin’s recent speeches.

Chin was adviser to former Secretary of Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping. After leaving that job in 2007, Chin published a book suggesting Hong Kong should become a city-state, which is credited with inspiring the autonomy movement.

The book is also widely seen as laying the foundations of today’s localist movement.

Cheng said: “The university safeguards the freedom of academics and of speech, and respects the right to express opinions enjoyed by the staff, but some of your words and behaviour over the past few years contradicted your status as a scholar, and went beyond the bottom line of the limit of speech freedom.”

Without specifying which remarks he was referring to, Cheng also said Chin’s words and conduct had violated the professors’ code of ethics and badly affected the university’s reputation.

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