CONFIDENTIAL
FM HONG KONG
TO PRIORITY FCO
TELNO 1662
OF 03130OZ MAY 88
INFO PRIORITY PEKING
CONFIDENTIAL
ни
HILD
19
154771
MDLIAN 4524
3064 TOP COZY
Q DIST ?
OUR TELNO. 1153: RENEWAL OF TELEVISION LICENCES : FOREIGN OWNERSHIP.
1.
I
!!
DEBATE IS FOCUSING ON DEFINITIONS OF 'LOCAL AND ''FOREIGN' IN THE CONTEXT OF THIS PROPOSED LEGISLATION. OUR TUR PROMISED A DEFENSIVE LINE TO TAKE: SOME RETHINKING AT THIS END IS DELAYING A FINAL VERSION BUT WE FELT WE OUGHT TO KEEP YOU UPTO DATE IN VIEW OF THE CRITICISM FROM TONG YUK-HON. THE LATTER HAS NOW PUBLISHED A TOTAL OF SEVEN ARTICLES IN TA KUNG PAO. ALL SEVEN HAVE BEEN SENT TO YOU AND PEKING, COVERED BY A SUMMARY.
2. THE DECISION PREVIOUSLY TAKEN BY EXCO WAS TO RESTRICT OWNER HIP AND CONTROL OF TV STATIONS TO THOSE WITH PERMANENT ID CARDS WHO ARE ORDINARILY RESIDENT IN HONG KONG: I.E. THOSE WHO HAVE RIGHT OF ABODE. UNDER CURRENT LAW THIS MEANS HKBDTCS: ''CHINESE RESIDENTS (PERSONS WHOLLY OR PARTLY OF CHINESE RACE WHO HAVE LIVED HERE FOR MORE THAN SEVEN YEARS): AND A SMALL GROUP OF 'HONG KONG BELONGERS' WHO HAD ACQUIRED THIS STATUS BEFORE 1ST JANUARY 1983 BY MARRIAGE OR NATURALIZATION (THIS CATEGORY LAPSED IN 1987) THIS DEFINITION WAS ATTACKED IN SOME QUARTERS AS BEING TOO NARROW, A CRITICISM WE ARE N OW INCLINED TO ACCEPT.
1
3. THE TA KUNG PAO ARTICLES, HOWEVER, ATTACKED THE FACT THAT WHEN THE DEFINITION OF THOSE ELIGIBLE FOR RIGHT OF ABODE' CHANGES TO REFLECT JD159 (NOW INCLUDED WORD FOR WORD IN THE BASIC LAW DRAFT), THE DEFINITION OF WHO CAN CONTROL TV STATIONS WOULD ALSO CHANGE, TO INCLUEDE NON-CHINESE NATIONALS ORDINARILY RESIDENT FOR SEVEN YEARS WHO HAD DECLARED HONG KONG THEIR PLACE OF PERMANENT RESIDENCE.
4. IT IS ESSENTIAL TO ARRIVE AT A WAY OF SPECIFYING THE GROUP OF PEOPLE WE WANT WITHOUT TYING THIS TO ANY LEGAL DEFINITION WHICH WILL HAVE TO CHANGE BY 1997.
5. ON REFLECTION WE FEEL THAT THEMOST DEFENSIBLE POSITION MAY BE DELIBERATELY TO RELATE THE RIGHTS OF OWNERSHIP OF TV STATIONS TO THE DEFINITION OF 'RIGHT OF ABODE CONTAINED IN JD159. THIS IS THE MOST LEGITIMATE DESCRIPTION OF A FUTURE 'HONGKONGER'' WE HAVE, AND AS
1
PAGE CONFIDENTIAL
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.