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Local journalist to head China's radio and tv: The SCMP reported on 14 May that Mr. Xie Wenqing, a vice-director of the HK branch of NCNA, had returned to Beijing to act as Minister of Radio and Television as the present encumbent was seriously indisposed; this was the first time an officer of that rank in HK had been promoted several ranks ahead to become a minister of the State Council. The paper said Mr. Xie, who had been in HK for three years, had also been elected a delegate to the 6th National Committee of the CPPCC as a member of the cultural unit.
DIS responds to 'Guardian' article: In response to an article in the 'Guardian', which quoted the Director of Information Services, Mr. Peter Tsao, as saying he would leave HK if there were no satisfactory solution to the territory's future, Mr. Tsao told the SCMP that he had qualified his statement, but this had not been reflected. He had told the 'Guardian' HK was unsinkable. He told the SCMP his remarks to the 'Guardian' were made in response to hypothetical questions and his answers had been hypothetical. The story was on the front page of both the Post and the Standard on 14 May.
NPC: The Standard of 12 May carried an AP despatch from Beijing saying the Chinese leader, Mr. Deng Xiaoping, had withdrawn from the NPC, China's parliament. Others missing from the list of members were Chen Yun and Ye Jianying, fellow members with Mr. Deng on the "elite" Standing Committee of the Communist Party politbureau, but elected were three other members of the Committee, Communist Party General Secretary, Mr. Hu Yaobang, Premier Zhao Ziyang and Li Xiannian. The report said Mr. Deng's withdrawal did nothing to affect his position as China's top leader; but because of his age, he now left day-to-day affairs to his political allies, Mr. Hu and Mr. Zhao.
HK delegation to Beijing: The SCMP and Standard on 10 May reported that a 12-member delegation, including three Legco members, Mr. Allen Lee, Mr. Stephen Cheong and Mrs. Selina Chow, would leave for Beijing on 16 May to express views to Chinese officials about the territory's future. They were invited personally by the Chinese Government through the local NCNA bureau.
Helicopter service: The SCMP reported on 14 May that a HK-based helicopter company (Heliservices (HK) Ltd.) had applied to operate regular helicopter services to Macau, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shekou. Its application was gazetted on Friday, although details of fares and frequencies were not available. Meanwhile, British Airways Helicopters has applied to operate a service to Macau, but a spokesman for the company said London would be alerted to the Heliservices move and it would be up to London to lodge any objection.
Letters: A letter from D.S. Mak in the SCMP on 12 May said while he fully agreed with Mr. T.L. Tsim and the HK Observers that "the Chinese Government must accept that the timetable of change must be dictated not by Beijing but by the people of HK”, it appeared that we had all totally forgotten that Chinese politics, however modelled to facilitate the four modernisations, was still basically communism. When China regained sovereignty it
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