The Chinese central government-backed Ta Kung Pao (大公報) newspaper reported with fury last week that a recent survey on public opinion about the SAR government by the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies (香港亞太研究所) “differed sharply” from similar surveys by other media outlets (see our graphic below). Resorting in typical form to ad hominem attacks, the paper noted that key scholars at the institute include “anti-China instigator” (反華推手) Morton Holbrook and “Taiwan independence advocate” (台獨分子) Hsiao Hsin-huang (蕭新煌). Holbrook is a former US diplomat, Hsiao a Taiwanese sociologist.
CUHK subsequently stripped both of their honorary positions, a spokesperson telling the Ta Kung Pao that the university would “strictly comply” with Hong Kong’s National Security Law. The institute’s website went offline briefly before rebooting with both names scrubbed. Also this week, Hong Kong has cancelled passports for 12 activists living overseas. But at the HKSAR official website, everything is just fine. There is even a quick link where you can download the national anthem.
