From:
Sir David Wilson, KCMG
香港/ 總督府
GOVERNMENT HOUSE
HONG KONG
ний
HellD 3011
DECIROT
Clwyot,
19 November 1987
Nu W/201 A FCN 26/11
Л
ра
Thank you for your letter of 28 October.
I am
grateful for the opportunity to put in their proper perspective the legislative amendments that were introduced in Hong Kong in March.
In January this year, after a thorough review of the legislation dealing with the control of publications, the Hong Kong Government introduced into the Legislative Council the Control of Publications Consolidation (Amendment) Bill 1986 and the Public Order (Amendment) Bill 1986. The purpose of these bills was to repeal most of the existing provisions for control of the press, which provided inter alia for the suppresion of newspapers and the seizure of printing presses.
The Government considered, however, that in the wider public interest there was a need to retain in the law one provision that dealt with the publication of false news that was likely to disturb public order. To make it clear that the purpose of this was to safeguard public order rather than to control the press, the false news provision was transferred to the Public Order Ordinance.
As you will appreciate, the net effect of the legislation was to remove several provisions that had been on the statute book for some 35 years. No new controls were introduced, and only one of the previous controls was retained, with its wording slightly amended. The reason for retaining this provision is that Hong Kong is a small and densely populated place where disturbances of public order can quickly have unpredictable effects. The law is there to provide some degree of protection from irresponsible scaremongering.
Ms Ann Clwyd MP House of Commons London SW1 0AA England
/2.