Advertisement
Hong Kong’s Regina Ip defends Olympic star Vivian Kong’s thesis against ‘rabid attacks’
- Ip mounts defence of Kong after fencer attacked over 2021 thesis defending ‘one country, two systems’ governing principle and ‘patriots only’ rule
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
51
Olympic fencing queen Vivian Kong Man-wai’s academic paper that supported the “one country, two systems” governing principle was on Sunday defended by a top Hong Kong government adviser, who condemned “rabid attacks” on the gold medallist as the work of “fawning puppets” of external powers.
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, convenor of the Executive Council, the government’s key decision-making body, said the “disgusting attacks” appeared to have come from people living overseas to evade the legal consequences of undermining national security and who were “only good at barking at people who have made real contributions”.
Advertisement
The 30-year-old épéeist won Hong Kong’s first gold of the Paris Olympics, but later came under attack after her master’s degree thesis was circulated on Reddit-like LIHKG, an online forum popular among protesters during the 2019 unrest.
Kong’s academic paper, submitted to Beijing’s Renmin University for a master’s in constitutional and administrative law in 2021, explored major Hong Kong protests such as the Occupy Central civil disobedience movement of 2014 and the 2019 social unrest.
She argued the protests revealed misconceptions about the constitutional order among some Hongkongers, who prioritised “two systems” over “country” in the one country, two systems governing principle.
The paper also praised Beijing’s “patriots only” condition for political participation in Hong Kong.
Advertisement