鈥榃e need to teach how to speak truth to power鈥�
A draconian national security law imposed by China on Hong Kong provides the chance to talk about academic freedom rather than stop it, a long-time pro-democracy activist has said.
鈥淚n the past I didn鈥檛 feel the need to talk about academic freedom because we just took it for granted that we enjoyed that,鈥� Prof Kenneth Chan told 91热爆 Hardtalk.
鈥淏ut now because it is under threat it is important to talk about the basic principles and the practices of academic freedom in classes, in tutorials, in debates, in writing papers and so on and so forth,鈥� he said.
More than 50 of the city鈥檚 most prominent pro-democracy politicians and activists were arrested earlier this month.
China鈥檚 government previously said it was necessary to impose the legislation on the semi-autonomous territory last June to curb months of sometimes violent pro-democracy protests, but activists say the law is designed to quash dissent.
