However, on internal Hong Kong matters, he said, the press was likely to remain as free as it is at present.
11
But is it? Mr. Lu Ping of the PRC's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Bureau was quoted in the South China Morning Post on 12th September, 1989 as saying that:-
IT
"The Hong Kong and Macau press could continue criticising the
Communist Chinese Government. 'Everything can be published,' he said, despite several Hong Kong newspapers being blacklisted by Beijing for their coverage of the student-led pro-democracy movement in China [added the paper]. 'You can say anything you like and we can say whatever we want. All of us enjoy freedom of speech. ' But he warned Hong Kong and Macau people not to take
14 part in activities aimed at subverting the Chinese Government.
This raises a question. Where is the line between speech and subversion, between tolerated opinion and inappropriate action, going to be drawn. What is going to be held to be unpatriotic, for example? What will the CPG expect of those people who are in a position to influence others? Take the example of a commentary recently reported by the South China Morning Post in the following
way: -
/
"A commentary in the People's Daily has accused unidentified Hong
Kong publications of spreading damaging rumours about the communist leadership as part of a capitalist plot.
'Some Hong Kong publications started their rumour mills to make up wild tales, fumed the commentary which appeared on Sunday under the name, Li Demin. 'Some rumours are not very harmful, but others can kill people and bring calamity to this country.' It was not clear if the criticism was aimed at Chinese or English-language publications, or both."
Is the intention to intimidate? I should like to ask people in Beijing why they feel this is necessary, particularly as Beijing has decided to mount its own media campaign in Hong Kong. According to the Hong Kong Standard: -
"Sources said Beijing had considered Hong Kong a crucial base to
launch external propaganda because of the strong left-wing influence in the territory. Sources said the Hong Kong branch of the Xinhua New Agency had succeeded in securing a huge amount of funds from Beijing during the [recent] external propaganda conference. 'The allocation of funds, which amount to dozens of millions of Hong Kong dollars, will be invested in Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao to improve the editorial quality of these large left-wing newspapers.' sources said"