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11
"Apologist"
4 November, 1968
"John Rear's lette to the London Times has apparently discomfited many scl-righteous gentlemen here, among them the editor of South China Morning Post.
"As far as he is concerned, having more than 50 Chinese thrown into a concentration camp 'surely signi- fies moderation."
"From this gentleman, this remark is hardly surprising at all. His job is to rationalise all the acts, even the most outrageous ones, that the Hongkong British authorities care to perpetrate.
"But it is not an easy job. In fact it is so difficult that even the editor's glibness sometimes fails him.
"For example, when one comes to the passage in which he writes: 'It may be regretted that it was not possible to prosecute them in court but since China has shown that it will not accept deportees (in cases where the individual is born outside Hongkong) there is no alternative to detention, one wonders what the first part of the statement has to do with the rest of it.
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"The fact is that the Hongkong British authorities have prosecuted many Chinese patriots with trumped-up charges and had them summarily convicted. But in respect of the 50, it was not possible for the Hong- kong British authorities to prosecute them because if they had done so they would have laid themselves open to too much ridicule.
"Furthermore, it is not true that none of the 50 has been prosecuted. Lau Sam, for example, was prosecuted and the evidence against him was so shabby that the judge had to acquit him. He was re-arrested after his acquital and thrown into the concentration camp."
AND FROM THE FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW (published in Hong Kong)
"Lawless Laws" 21 November, 1968
"John Rear's letter to the London Times was wrong- headed in its attempt to link the cruel detention of Anthony Grey in Peking with the suspected communist ringleaders detained without trial in Hongkong. The Chinese Foreign Ministry made it abundantly clear when Anthony Grey was deprived of his liberty that China was taking revenge for the imprisonment after public trial and lawful convinction of Hsinhua employees in Hongkong. It is China's retaliation against an innocent foreign correspondent totally unconnected with the Colony which is so deplorable.
"But John Rear had every reason to draw attention to the emergency powers which the Hongkong Government has arrogated to itself. The right to detain without trail is inevitable in an emergency (and is even accepted with a minimum of questioning during times of peace in independent countries like Singapore and Malaysia), but a permanent power arbitrarily to imprison on "suspicion" of subversive activities is one that must be hedged
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