CONFIDENTIAL
legislation, on the grounds that its showing would damage relations
with other territories. This is the first contentious film to be
submitted for a permit under the new film censorship legislation,
which was passed last year by Legco after long and heated debate.
Under the new legislation, a ban on political grounds depends on
there being "a likelihood that the exhibition of the film would
seriously damage good relations with other territories".
There is
also a new provision for appeals against decisions by the censor.
A further new provision sets down a timetable within which decisions
must be made.
4.
Against this new legislative background, the Governor has
concluded that no strong case could be made to ban the film on
political grounds; and that in any event it is very likely that the
ban would be overturned on appeal. The timetable provision in the
new legislation means that a decision about whether or not to ban the film must be taken very quickly: a reply to the film
distributor is required by 4 February.
5.
+
The Governor also points out that if the film is shown in
Hong Kong there will almost certainly be a row with the Chinese.
There is a long history of Chinese sensitivity over this particular
film, and in 1987 an NCNA official said that the showing of this
film in Hong Kong would be regarded with concern by the Chinese
authorities.
6.
A further important consideration is that any row with the
Chinese over the showing of the film could well coincide with the
visit of Vice Minister Zhou Nan to Hong Kong from 28 February to
4/5 March. That could aggravate the problem and sour the
atmosphere of the visit. We therefore asked the Governor to delay
his decision so that any row would be postponed until after Zhou
B Nan's departure. In Hong Kong telno 370, the Governor explains
that the terms of the new censorship legislation do not give him the
power to delay longer than 2 weeks, ie to 21 February. In his view
that would be worse timing than the 4 February deadline because it
would be even closer to the Zhou Nan visit.
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17.
With
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