Matt Render | Contributor
Featured Image: Many York students from Hong Kong have been called back to York out of concern for their safety back home. | Courtesy of Fatema Ali/Excalibur
With protests surging in Hong Kong, many residents have had their lives put into danger. Some of these residents are students who are there on exchange programs from Canadian universities.
As a result, York and other Canadian universities have requested that the exchange students come back to Canada out of concern for their safety.
After Hong Kong was returned to China after being a British colony in 1997, Hong Kong still maintained a certain level of independence as a separate entity from China.
Since June, protests have escalated as Hong Kong has put forward a bill which threatens to have criminals from Hong Kong extradited to China for punishment.
The protests have gradually become worse. They have been characterized by Chinese officials as riots and have led to many protestors being killed, injured, and detained.
“I think it is reasonable for them to call back the students,” says Kevin Gu, first-year language student. “The protestors have attacked the universities,” he adds, emphasizing that the severity of the protests were putting Canadian students’ lives in danger.
One student, who requested to remain anonymous for fear of a reaction from the Chinese government, had a different outlook.
Canadians are safe in China. Canada has always been viewed positively by the Chinese, ever since Mao. This is all being blown out of proportion. China doesn’t see Canada the same way as other Western countries,” says the student.
“If the protests continue to grow more violent, based on history, it could lead to a civil war, and Canadian students could be caught in the crossfire,” says third-year history student Eric Solomon.
“I don’t know how bad it actually is, but studying abroad is stressful enough, having this going on would take a toll on one’s mental health,” adds Solomon. “Even if Canadian students aren’t being targeted, they’re getting affected one way or another. Everybody is hurting. No one wins.”
First-year interdisciplinary studies student Katherine Mu challenged whether the overall concern from Canadian universities was for the best of all involved.
“Are we valuing some lives more than others? Why don’t we focus on creating a safer environment for everybody rather than just calling these students back? For any university or country to only call back their people from a situation like that shows they are valuing some lives more than others,” says Mu.
Despite being across the world, many students at York are engaging in discussion and protesting around the current situation in Hong Kong. For now, all students can do is hope for the safety and well-being of those affected by the conflict.
