Secretary for Education Choi Yuk-lin today attended the opening ceremony of the National Security Education Study Tour organised by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government in Beijing.

She also led the tour’s participants to call on officials of the Hong Kong & Macao Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

The study tour is the first held by the Hong Kong SAR Government under the theme of national security. More than 70 students and teachers participating.

They are mainly outstanding students and teacher chaperons participating in the Inter-school National Security Knowledge Challenge, which was jointly organised by the Department of Justice, the Security Bureau, the Education Bureau and the Shine Tak Foundation.

Addressing the tour’s opening ceremony, Ms Choi expressed gratitude to the Hong Kong & Macao Work Office of the CPC Central Committee and the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong SAR for supporting the tour.

She added that the tour group will also visit Shanghai and Hangzhou to explore the theme of national security, covering areas such as the national political system and cultural innovation, as well as historical and cultural heritage.

She said she hoped that with first-hand knowledge of the nation’s latest developments and achievements, students will develop proper national, historical, ethnic and cultural perspectives, foster their patriotic sentiments and increase their awareness of the responsibility to safeguard national security.

The education chief and the tour members were received by Deputy Director of the Hong Kong & Macao Work Office of the CPC Central Committee Nong Rong. She also met officials from the Ministry of Education and visited Beijing Normal University.

Ms Choi will proceed to Shaanxi tomorrow and lead a delegation of Chinese history teachers on a study tour to Yan'an.