01 Investigation
Written by: Chen Jingqi
2021-03-09 07:00
Last update date: 2021-03-09 07:00
In recent years, the government has vigorously encouraged young people from Hong Kong to travel to the Mainland to strengthen their understanding of the motherland and their national identity.
However, the Secretary for Home Affairs Xu Yingwei earlier pointed out that due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, 118 projects of the "Youth Mainland Exchange Funding Scheme" for 2019-20 need to be postponed.
"Hong Kong 01" checked documents and found that among the 118 postponed projects, at least 27 projects had their original departure dates between June and November 2019, much earlier than the outbreak of the epidemic, which is inconsistent with what the authorities said. .
The reporter tried to contact the 21 postponed organizers one by one, and five of them admitted that the postponement was necessary due to social movements.
Among them, some organizations worry that "the youths of Hong Kong go to "doing things" with different "colors". They will consider asking participants to sign declarations to prevent discussion of sensitive political topics. If young people violate mainland laws, they will not tolerate them.
The Civil Affairs Bureau, after repeated questions from reporters, finally admitted that 15 exchange programs had applied for rescheduling exchange programs due to social events.
Secretary for Home Affairs Xu Yingwei said when attending a meeting of the Legislative Council in January this year that many overseas events were affected by the epidemic last year and needed to be suspended or postponed. Depending on the development of the epidemic, various activities for Mainland and overseas youths will be relaunched as soon as possible.
Nearly 40% of the "Youth Mainland Exchange Program" has been postponed or cancelled. One-third of the subsidy has not been used
Among them, the "Youth Mainland Exchange Funding Program" organized by the Home Affairs Bureau for 2019-20, a total of 307 exchange projects were funded, with a total funding of about 75 million yuan, but due to the epidemic, 3 projects were decided to be cancelled, 118 projects Postponed, the postponed projects accounted for about 38% of the exchange projects of the year; nearly one-third of the funding amount, namely 25 million yuan, was ultimately not used due to the postponement.
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During the 27th item anti-amendment period, the five organizations that departed due to the postponement of the demonstration
The reporter obtained the latest list of postponed projects and compared it with the Civil Affairs Bureau’s response to the Legislative Council Finance Committee’s inquiry last year. It was found that among the 118 postponed projects, at least 27 projects were originally scheduled to visit the Mainland between June and November 2019. Well before the outbreak of the epidemic.
The reporter tried to contact the 21 organizations involved one by one. Five of them admitted that due to the outbreak of social movements against the amendments in 2019, the number of students enrolled was insufficient, and mainland organizations were worried about the words and deeds of Hong Kong youths and their safety.
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Ms. Chen (pseudonym), head of the exchange group A, who did not want to be named, accepted a telephone interview and revealed that her organization had originally planned to hold two-way exchange activities. Hong Kong youths went to the Mainland in July 2019, while Mainland youths visited Hong Kong later in the same month.
However, when a social movement broke out in Hong Kong at that time, she was informed by mainland organizations that she was worried that Hong Kong youths would "affect the atmosphere of mainland universities" and that they were also worried about the safety of mainland youths visiting Hong Kong. Eventually, she decided to resume the operation after the society calmed down.
Hong Kong organizers and mainland organizations share concerns about Hong Kong youth "making troubles"
Another organization, Lin Xianfa, chairman of the Qingyuan Hong Kong Youth Exchange Promotion Association, pointed out that the original plan to organize a "Beautiful Countryside Tour for Qinggang Youth" from June to July 2019 was worried that local youths would "bring different colors during the event. Go to the local area to do something," and finally decided to postpone it.
The Secretary for Home Affairs Xu Yingwei pointed out in January this year that a number of overseas activities affected by the epidemic last year, including internships, entrepreneurship and exchange programs for mainland youths need to be suspended or postponed.
(Information Picture/Photographed by Li Zetong)
In the future, it will not be tolerated to sign a declaration of "Love the Country and Love Hong Kong" that violates the law
Lin Xu said that in order to prevent young people with bad intentions from "making troubles" by participating in exchange activities in the Mainland in the future, participants may be required to sign a declaration in the future.
The statement will state that the organization loves the country and Hong Kong, and will inform the participants in advance that they do not want them to talk about politics or make any excessive remarks during the event.
Lin emphasized that since the establishment of the Hong Kong National Security Law, relevant remarks will violate the law. If participants "do something with bad intentions, we will never tolerate or help." He will also warn participants if they violate the law, such as talking about "Hong Kong Independence", whether in Hong Kong or the Mainland, the organizer cannot provide any assistance, and will be handed over to local law enforcement agencies to "do what they should do."
Regarding the authorities’ explanation that the 118 projects of the “Youth Mainland Exchange Funding Scheme” for 2019-20 must be postponed on the grounds of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the “Hong Kong 01” has repeatedly asked, the Home Affairs Bureau has initially replied that the relevant funding organizations may Before the outbreak of the epidemic, during the preparation of the exchange program, the schedule had to be rescheduled due to different reasons, such as the original scheduled reception unit in the Mainland had to change the reception time, the original scheduled visit location arrangements, etc.
The Home Affairs Bureau finally admitted that in the second half of 2019, some of the funded organizations due to social incidents used this as one of the reasons to apply for rescheduling exchange projects. According to the records of the authorities, 15 exchange projects were involved.
It was also pointed out that the application for the "Youth Mainland Exchange Funding Scheme" for 2020-21 will be postponed.
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