Pressure Mounts On Benny Tai To Apologise

Legal scholar Benny Tai is continuing to face scorching attacks from Beijing and pro-establishment figures over comments he made at a forum in Taiwan last month. Pro-Beijing legislators have issued a joint statement asking Professor Tai to apologise, and the state news agency Xinhua says he only wants to bring trouble and chaos to Hong Kong and the country.

At a forum in Taiwan last month, Hong Kong University law professor Benny Tai said people need to think about what they want should China become a democratic country. He said Chinese people, including Hong-kongers, should think about whether or not they want to set up an independent country or a federal government.

Beijing's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and the SAR government responded by accusing Professor Tai of advocating Hong Kong independence, and their backers quickly followed suit.

Forty-one pro-establishment lawmakers in the SAR issued a joint statement strongly condemning the scholar. They said Professor Tai's actions go against the interests of Hong Kong people, and he should apologise.

In an article, the official Xinhua news agency also said Professor Tai is deliberately challenging the country's constitution, the Basic Law, Hong Kong's laws, as well as the One Country, Two Systems arrangement. It said it's "laughable" for Professor Tai to explain away his statements as his "imaginations for the future".

For his part, Mr Tai described these attacks as akin to public shaming during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and said they were aimed at scaring Hong Kong people away from opposing the establishment.

The chairman of the Hong Kong University's Academic Staff Association, William Cheung, also said he's concerned about free speech and academic freedom. He said the attack against Professor Tai is putting great pressure on scholars at HKU and he was worried that academics will end up engaging in self-censorship.