Beijing academic links Hong Kong protests to textbooks, stresses anti-graft drive
Beijing academic Han Qiang says 2014 Hong Kong protests were linked to textbooks, and stresses China's anti-corruption campaign remains strong with 69 senior officials investigated this year. He urges Hong Kong and Macau to promote Xi Jinping's party-building ideology.
A Beijing academic has linked the 2014 Hong Kong protests to school textbooks and said China's anti-corruption campaign was pressing ahead with "not half a step back".
Han Qiang, former dean of the Marxism College at Beijing Foreign Studies University, made the remarks at a press tea hosted by the All-China Journalists Association on 10 November.
Han said Xi Jinping's party-building ideology marked a new phase of systematic theory, with the core being to respond to severe governance challenges and advance an anti-corruption "self-revolution" with determination.
He said the anti-corruption fight was "the most thorough self-revolution" and that the central government was promoting a unified approach of "dare not, cannot and do not want to be corrupt".
Han cited data showing that while about 60 senior officials were usually investigated annually, 69 had already been investigated this year, indicating the central government's anti-corruption efforts remained strong.
Asked why the West often views China's communism as a threat, Han attributed it to institutional and ideological differences. He cited the 1997 Asian financial crisis, saying international capital tried to attack the Hong Kong market but the central government's support stabilised the situation, reflecting the socialist system's ability to curb Western capital's predatory logic.
On ideology and patriotic education, Han said it was extremely important to cultivate national and ethnic views from childhood. He said the 2014 Hong Kong protests involved many students, mainly because the Liberal Studies textbooks were compiled by the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union, which he said contained separatists lacking identification with the Chinese nation.
Han said the mainland's integrated education system from kindergarten to university, with textbooks personally reviewed by the Politburo, could effectively establish correct values.
Regarding how Hong Kong and Macau should align with the fifth plenum's spirit and play their roles, Han said they had an obligation to promote Xi Jinping's party-building ideology and theories, and journalists should report on the effectiveness of party governance. He said political parties and mainland agencies in Hong Kong should learn from the Communist Party's practices of staying close to public opinion and maintaining close ties with the masses.