Hong Kong Schools Devote a Day to China's National Security - Bloomberg

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Students raise the Chinese national flag during a ceremony marking the National Security Education Day at a school in Hong Kong on April 15.

Photographer: Chan Long Hei/Bloomberg

Hong Kong is holding its first National Security Education Day following China’s imposition of sweeping national security legislation as part of the city’s efforts to revamp its school system after a wave of protests in 2019.

Schools across the city will hold activities Thursday including raising the Chinese flag and singing the Chinese national anthem to foster better understanding of national security, Education Secretary Kevin Yeung said in a recent statement.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam attended a launch ceremony at the city’s convention center. The event was also attended by Zheng Yanxiong, head of the secretive agency China created to implement the controversial security law that was condemned by major western governments, and Major General Chen Daoxiang, head of the People’s Liberation Army garrison in the city.

Representatives of the city’s international schools didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment about how they would handle the day’s events.

A group of protesters marched through a downtown area to call for universal suffrage in China, the RTHK news website reported. Police checked their IDs and let them continue.

Carrie Lam, left, speaks at the opening ceremony for the National Security Education Day in Hong Kong on April 15.

Photographer: Chan Long Hei/Bloomberg

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The city’s Education Bureau distributed material with the slogan “Uphold National Security, Safeguard Our Homeland” to classrooms across the city. A bookmark handed out featured a list that included “Political Security, Homeland Security, Military Security,” as well as “Cultural Security” and “Overseas Interests Security.”

Hong Kong told schools in February to start using a more patriotic curriculum and advised teachers to report breaches of the national security law, a move aimed at instilling patriotism in children starting in kindergarten. Youngsters will be taught to memorize offenses under the law, including subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign powers.

Many local newspapers featured ads for the security day on their front pages, except for the pro-democracy Apple Daily. Its owner, Jimmy Lai, is being tried on charges of foreign collusion under the national security law.

An advertisement promoting the National Security Education Day near the Cross Harbour Tunnel in Hong Kong on April 14.

Photographer: Lam Yik/Bloomberg

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Foreign governments, human rights groups, and local lawyers and activists have criticized the security law as a tool for Beijing to suppress any form of dissent in Hong Kong. The law’s implementation prompted several western governments -- including the U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada -- to suspend extradition arrangements with Hong Kong.

Beijing has urged Hong Kong to eliminate the alleged “black hands” influencing its schools in June last year. China often used the “black hands” phrase during demonstrations in the city, accusing the U.S. and foreign forces of fomenting the sometimes-violent unrest.

(Corrects online version of story that contained incorrect photo caption.)

China’s legislature established April 15 as National Security Education Day for the mainland in 2015.

— With assistance by Natalie Lung

(Updates with details of international schools in fourth paragraph.)

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