Academics have said that Hong Kong¡¯s recent denial of a visa for a US-based human rights researcher?may foreshadow?greater limitations?for scholars working in the city ¨C and called for the global higher education community to push back.

Earlier this month,?Hong Kong authorities rejected a visa for Ryan Thoreson, a full-time researcher for the New York-based non-profit group Human Rights Watch who remotely teaches law part-time at Hong Kong University.

¡°The sector should see this visa denial as a warning that academic freedom in Hong Kong is increasingly vulnerable,¡± said Clare Robinson, advocacy director at the non-profit group Scholars at Risk.

She noted a few similar cases in recent years. In?, Hong Kong authorities reportedly refused to permit Matthew Connors, a professor of photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, to enter the city.?,?they reportedly prevented American political scientist and author Dan Garrett from entering, in ¡°apparent retaliation¡± for his statements on democracy and human rights in the region.

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Scholars speaking to?Times Higher Education?said that the visa denial was most likely linked to Thoreson¡¯s position at the non-profit group.

¡°We can expect more individuals, both in and out of academia, to have difficulty entering the city for a variety of reasons as long as the government deems them a threat,¡± said?Jeffrey Ngo, an activist from Hong Kong who is currently pursuing a PhD in history at Georgetown University.

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He said that Dr Thoreson¡¯s specialty in LGBTQ+ issues, which are ¡°generally considered taboo¡± in Hong Kong and China, may also have been a red flag.

¡°There¡¯s a popular nationalistic argument ¨C which is prevalent in other authoritarian societies like Russia and Iran, too ¨C that things like LGBTQ+ rights are part of Western-imported ideas that destabilise traditional ways of life,¡± he said. ¡°Even a place as cosmopolitan as Hong Kong is now moving closer to China with each passing day.¡±

Still, Mr Ngo stressed that ¡°while there¡¯s usually a lot of attention on foreign academics in the international media for obvious reasons, local academics suffer far more¡­for young, aspiring academics who once hoped they could build a career back home, that reality is totally shattered¡±.

Teng Biao, a scholar of human rights and visiting professor at the University of Chicago, urged universities abroad to educate themselves and support Hong Kong-based scholars: ¡°The first thing is to know the situation in Hong Kong and China; the second is to stand up to the intimidation and influence from the Chinese government ¨C that will be important to protect academic freedom.¡±

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Ms Robinson, of Scholars at Risk, echoed the sentiment: ¡°The global higher education community must press Hong Kong and mainland authorities to take immediate actions to respect freedom of movement, support the cross-border exchange of ideas and knowledge and to refrain from basing immigration decisions on the substance of a scholar¡¯s academic work or expression.¡±

Alvin Cheung, a legal scholar at McGill University, agreed that ¡°the space for international academic exchange with Hong Kong is clearly closing¡±. He said that ¡°at a minimum¡±, the higher education community should extend a hand to Hong Kong-based scholars.

Actions?could include raising the profile of academics, in particular junior academics, in Hong Kong ¡°to increase the reputational costs of their arrest or ill-treatment by the authorities¡±, he suggested, while institutions abroad could also take in academics unable to continue teaching in Hong Kong. Dr Cheung also supported re-evaluating ¨C or even potentially ending ¨C student exchange programmes with Hong Kong, given safety concerns.

But where foreign scholars are concerned, Dr Cheung said that, ultimately, those who are denied a visa to enter the city might be better off for it.

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¡°In the [current] era of rampant and unaccountable?¡®state security¡¯ institutions, it¡¯s certainly arguable that the only thing worse for someone teaching ¡®contentious¡¯?subjects than being refused a visa to enter Hong Kong would be being granted one.¡±

pola.lem@timeshighereducation.com