HK Bar Association lecturers, chairman refused by Peking University

Philip Dykes

The Council of the Hong Kong Bar Association has suspended a common law course it was running at the prestigious Peking University in the Chinese capital, after two lawyers from the course and the Bar Association’s chairman were advised by the institution not to travel to the mainland.

Citing a letter from the Bar Association, Hong Kong public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) reported that Chairman Philip Dykes and two barristers were not given any reasons for the rejection.

As a result of the communication breakdown between the Bar Association and Peking University, the former institution has decided to indefinitely suspend the common law course, which had been taught on a volunteer basis for years.

Dykes said that Peking University had objected to the attendance of two barristers who planned to travel to Beijing to deliver lectures at the institution.

The Bar Association chairman had planned to come to Beijing himself to attend a closing ceremony for the course and decided to use the opportunity to confront Peking University on the matter.

However, after requesting a letter of invitation from the university in early May, he told RTHK that “a phone call from the university gave me the message that I must not come” – again without an explanation.

“We’ve had over six or seven years [… and] we’ve had many people go up there doing courses on various topics,” he said. “[This] has been a very popular course.”

“But this year, we were told that the people who’ve been teaching the course previously for several years are no longer acceptable.”

Professor Jiang Shigong of Peking University, who coordinates the course on the mainland, contests Dykes’s account. Jiang says that there was no closing ceremony this year and that although Dykes was welcome to visit the institution, there was no need for him to come at this time. The university professor also said that the decision was unrelated to Dykes’s political stance.