CONFIDENTIAL
involved China; and the existing system of censorship has operated for 30 years under present legislation without challenge in the
courts.
The Present Position
D
E
8.
As a result of the leak, the Hong Kong Government have
With ExCo's reconsidered their position in consultation with ExCo. agreement, OMELCO have been briefed on the background to the present problem and have agreed that the Hong Kong Government should now pursue the legislative approach (ie option (a) in paragraph 5 above) to the two problems outlined in paragraph 4. The Hong Kong media are aware that, in the wake of the recent ASWJ revelations, the Hong Kong Government and OMELCO are now discussing the film censorship
issue.
9.
There has been considerable press comment locally (some of it reflected in the UK press) about Hong Kong Government attempts to censor films "illegally" for over 30 years in order to please China. But so far comment has in general been fairly restrained and has been largely overshadowed by the continuing controversy over the Public Order (Amendment) Ordinance. There is probably a degree of recognition that Hong Kong must be able in extreme cases to censor films that would cause grave political offence to some people in Hong Kong or, in the final analysis, to the authorities in Peking.
10. But, given current concerns in Hong Kong about the preservation of freedoms after 1997, this remains a very sensitive issue indeed. We have asked Hong Kong to keep us fully informed of developments and are consulting Legal Advisers on the present draft of the Film Censorship Bill. If Hong Kong decide to proceed with this bill we shall need to consider carefully how the issues can best be presented in Hong Kong and here, in the wake of the recent controversy on legislation affecting the press.
Buthay
CO Hum
hayden
CONFIDENTIAL