RESTRICTED
(a) Press Freedom up to and beyond 1997
The HKJA's submission suggests that Annex I Section XIII of the
agreement, which provides that the Hong Kong SAR shall maintain the
freedom of the press, and that "The provisions of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as applied to Hong
Kong shall remain in force", does not go far enough in this regard, and that the Basic Law should describe journalists' rights in more
detail. The HKJA submission also asks that the Hong Kong Law Reform
Commission should examine those Hong Kong laws which could impinge
on press freedom (eg the Control of Publications Consolidation
Ordinance) and that statutory "media council" should be established.
(b) Nationality.
Mr Wong is a strong critic of the BNA and subsequent legislation.
(c) HMG's responsibilities towards Hong Kong particularly in the
run up to 1997
Mr Wong may argue the need for HMG to resist Chinese interference
pre-1997, and may
raise the recent difficulties
of a BDTC in the JLG as an instance of this.
over the inclusion
(d)
China's credibility
Mr Wong doubts that China will honour the agreement. He recently
quoted at the IFT meeting in Brussels the remarks of Secretary
General Hu Yaobang, on the need for the press in China to serve Communist party, as an example of China's intentions towards Hong
Kong after 1997.
the
There is no evidence however that Hu was thinking
of the press other than on the
mainland.