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APRIL 28, 2000 VOL. 26 NO. 16 | SEARCH ASIAWEEK Editorial: A Slippery Slope Beijing should not force Hong Kong media to push 'one China' Old doctrinaires never die, it seems. They just become indecorous. A case in point is the pronouncement last week on press freedom by a senior official at Beijing's Liaison Office in Hong Kong. By stating flatly that local media should not report views which advocate Taiwan independence, Wang Fengchao triggered a wave of protest. But what must Taiwan people be thinking? Here is Hong Kong, the showcase for China's "one country, two systems" reunification formula - whose media are being told they must toe Beijing's line on a key issue. Not an encouraging example. In Hong Kong, where support for Taiwan independence has always been scant, Wang's remarks sparked protest across the political spectrum. The journalists' association vowed the local press would not become a tool to propagate state policies. And acting Chief Executive Anson Chan declared that Hong Kong media were "free to comment and report on all matters of current interest," a right enshrined in the territory's Basic Law. In fact, Hong Kong has been down this bumpy road before. On the eve of its 1997 return to China, Beijing's Hong Kong affairs chief laid down some guidelines. As in the United States, said Lu Ping, the advocacy of independence for any province or state was against the law. But he also drew a distinction between reporting the news and advocating a position. In other words, news reportage and analysis were all right, but campaigning was not. Then in 1998, elderly Hong Kong leftist Xu Simin complained in Beijing about government criticism by the officially funded Radio Television Hong Kong; he suggested curbs on the broadcaster. Xu was quickly chided by Hong Kong leaders, and even President Jiang Zemin spurned his views. Wang's broadside is equally clumsy - and counterproductive. It threatens Hong Kong's role not only as the premier paragon of "one country, two systems" (through press censorship), but also as an international financial center, where the free flow of information is essential. Jeopardized, too, would be Hong Kong's valuable, traditional function as a facilitator of delicate contacts between China and Taiwan. That role can continue only if the territory is perceived to be relatively neutral in cross-strait matters. Wang's comments were likely prompted by an interview recently aired by a local cable-TV station with Taiwan Vice President-elect Annette Lu, a vocal hardliner on independence. Some circles in the mainland worry that the incoming government of President-elect Chen Shui-bian and his pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party will use the Hong Kong media to "push" the separatist cause. But there is no evidence Wang's statement has the backing, or even the foreknowledge, of China's top leaders. Indeed, in the wake of the storm he stirred, even pro-Beijing figures in Hong Kong were calling the comments Wang's "personal opinion," merely "advice" with no binding force. The Liaison Office, especially in its former incarnation as the Xinhua News Agency, has been known as a bastion of "leftism," especially during the years of confrontation with Hong Kong's last colonial governor, Chris Patten. Now that the territory is under Chinese rule, such doctrinaire inflexibility has become anachronistic. The less Beijing's local officials say about political matters, the better it will be for everyone. Write to Asiaweek at mail@web.asiaweek.com
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