A executive committee member of the pro-democracy NeoDemocrats is lodging a judicial review against the HK$1 billion One Belt One Road scholarship scheme, proposed by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying in his 2016 policy address.
Leung announced in his policy address on January 13 that the government plans to provide scholarships for students in “Belt and Road” countries to study at Hong Kong universities.
Zlato Ku Chun-hin, a Public Administration and Management associate degree student at the City University of Hong Kong Community College, has filed a judicial review application to the High Court on Wednesday, arguing that the scholarship violates the Basic Law.
See also: Explainer – One Belt, One Road
NeoDemocrats’ spokesperson Roy Tam Hoi-pong said on Wednesday that using public funds to set up this scholarship infringes Article 106 of the Basic Law, which states that “The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall use its financial revenues exclusively for its own purposes, and they shall not be handed over to the Central People’s Government”, RTHK reported.
If the HK$1 billion is used for local education, it could help 1,100 local undergraduate students complete their four-year university degrees, Tam said.
Ku said that the policy ignored the needs of Hong Kong students and resources should be used to develop local talent instead, Apple Daily reported. Ku also said that the policy was a way of pandering to the mainland.
Although Ku noted that the government will also sponsor local students who wish to go to the mainland for exchange programmes, he said that he has doubts about studying on the mainland and says the degrees obtained may lack credibility.
