Hong Kong Jitters   

Letter from Hong Kong

In this colony built on brashness, journalists have taken to whispering over their pints at the local pub. "We have the Mao tape but nobody talks about it," says a reporter at Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB), referring to his network's decision not to air a controversial British documentary on the late Chinese leader.

At a nearby table, two women mutter about life at the South China Morning Post. "The pages have practically screamed, 'Damn those Yanks for being so bloody stubborn on human rights during the most-favored-
nation thing,' " says one. Her friend laughs. "Well, we should damn the Yanks," she says. "I plan to stay here after 1997."

With only three years left until Great Britain hands over its last colony to Beijing, the local press corps is understandably edgy. Having flourished in one of Asia's most tolerant communities, Hong Kong journalists are grappling with the prospect of imminent Communist rule. Some journalists who are now barred from China, like Jonathan Mirksy, East Asia Editor of the Times of London, have grown accustomed to using Hong Kong as their base. But that may change.

Although Chinese officials insist that Hong Kong's press will stay free, their recent crackdown on dissidents and their firm control over mainland journalists send a different message. "People are scared," says Daisy Li, head of the Hong Kong Journalists' Association. "It would be naive not to worry."

But while some individuals are wary, news corporations see the impending transition as a rich opportunity to get a foothold in China. Prospects could be complicated, however, by leaders in Beijing, who zealously guard the flow of information to its 1.2 billion people.

Earlier this year Chinese officials sentenced Hong Kong reporter Xi Yang to 12 years in prison on vague charges of stealing state secrets. Xi, a writer with Hong Kong's 160,000-circulation Ming Pao newspaper, had received information about Beijing's plans to change interest rates and gold sales. As Martin Lee, chairman of Hong Kong's United Democrats, says, "Twelve years for a scoop is extremely shocking."

Shocking, but sadly not surprising. In addition to a standard closed trial, Xi faced undefined charges without legal representation. Even though foreign journalists in China are already used to subtler forms of intimidation ranging from phone-tapping to having their access cut off, Xi's case was the first incident in which a Hong Kong journalist was treated as a citizen of the regime.

In spite of legitimate apprehension about what kind of future the press has in Hong Kong, media moguls, drawn by the prospect of tapping into a billion-strong market of consumers, have been more than eager to set up shop. The colony now hosts three English-language dailies, and several television channels have been proposed. Says Li: "You don't need freedom to make money."

Dozens of media giants, including Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch, are gearing up to battle for turf throughout Asia. And many news outlets are choosing to follow China's party line rather than risk being cut off from the market. In March, Murdoch's Star TV, Asia's largest satellite network, dropped the BBC from its Chinese and Hong Kong programming. Murdoch has conceded that the decision was largely to appease the Chinese. "[Critics] say it's a cowardly way, but we said that in order to get in there and get accepted, we'll cut the BBC out," Murdoch told Esquire.

But the aspirations of zealous investors in Hong Kong could be misdirected come 1997. Unlike Latin America or some African
nations, China may not
welcome purveyors of Coca-Cola culture. "According to government policy, there will be no Western channels in China," says Li Qing-
liang, a Beijing engineer and deputy chief editor of World Cable magazine. "If you want CNN or MTV, you will have to stay at a Western hotel – or maybe go to Hong Kong."

At some regional publications, self-censorship is already the norm. At Time Warner's Asiaweek, for example, editors can recite a list of taboo topics – from the Thai royal family to the military in Indonesia.

But journalists are starting to fight back. Xi's arrest prompted a wave of small demonstrations as well as some carefully worded but clearly critical editorials in local publications. The Hong Kong Journalists' Association, the World Press Freedom Committee and other groups are pushing British authorities to beef up several vaguely worded laws currently on the books that the Chinese government could interpret in ways that would suppress the media. As the takeover approaches, the association has also launched a journalism review, "On the Record," to spotlight media self-censorship. "We hope we run out of material," says Li. "But that will probably not happen."