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Photo: Xinhua
The Hong Kong-America Center, a US-backed pro-secessionist organization founded in 1994, announced its official closure, with six university presidents in Hong Kong retiring from the center’s board of directors. The center has frequently been accused of political infiltration under the guise of academic exchanges, including its active participation in the illegal “Occupy Central” movement.
With tensions between China and the United States escalating over the years, the Hong Kong-America Center has gradually become a puppet under the manipulation of Washington to incite hatred between Hong Kong and mainland China, Wenweipo reported on Saturday.
The organization was noted to have been actively involved in the 2014 “Occupy Central” movement by supporting riot leader Anson Chan Fang On-sang and brainwashing college students through debate contests and workshops.
He also tried to revise liberal studies courses and instill anti-China ideologies in classes by appointing “exchange scholars” at various Hong Kong universities, the Hong Kong-based Takungpao newspaper previously reported.
By extending its outreach to younger targets, the center has influenced many Hong Kong youth through online games and school projects to join protests and illegal demonstrations in opposition to proposed amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and the Ordinance on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters in 2019.
“The Hong Kong-America Center aimed to penetrate Hong Kong higher education institutions with separatist ideologies under the guise of academic exchanges,” Deputy Director of the Hong Kong Education Workers Federation Nicholas said on Sunday. Muk, to the Global Times. He noted that the center has been receiving funds from the United States government either publicly or privately.
Takungpao reported in April that several U.S. organizations, including the Ford Foundation, the National Democratic Institute, the Asia Foundation, and other organizations in the U.S. Congress, have each been funding the center, with total annual amounts exceeding $ 3 million. Hong Kong dollars ($ 387,000).
The report also revealed underlying links with the US Consulate General in Hong Kong, explaining that after the center conducted liberal studies courses at eight universities, the US Consulate General appointed teaching staff to introduce American values into education.
Closing the Hong Kong-America Center could be seen as a failure for the United States amid the recent turmoil between the two countries, Nicholas Muk said. “More importantly, it can prevent the United States from messing with Hong Kong’s higher education, which had a negative influence on students.”
The Chinese University of Hong Kong issued a notice in May to clarify that its dealings with the center involved only “renting a workplace at the university.” The notice was updated on Saturday, stating that the center had ceased operations and moved off campus.
