Fri, May 28, 2004 page5

• Chinese officials `threatened' HK radio host

  IN DANGER Former anti-Beijing radio host and politician Allen Lee said he quit over the threats, adding that Beijing was very nervous about the elections in September

  • AFP AND REUTERS
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  An outspoken radio talkshow host told Hong Kong legislators yesterday that he quit his show because Chinese officials told him he would be in danger if he did not stop airing anti-Beijing comments.

  Allen Lee (李鵬飛), also a veteran politician, said he refused to give in to the threats.

  "A lot of people, including mainland officials, pressured me to keep quiet," Lee told a specially convened legislative panel meeting. "I refused to soften my views ... so I quit."

  Lee resigned from his Teacup in a Storm radio show soon after two other high-profile talkshow hosts stepped down saying they had received threats of violence because of their anti-Beijing views.

  The resignations sparked fears in the largely-autonomous former British colony, which was handed over to China in 1997, that Beijing had launched a crackdown on subversive media figures.

  Lee said a "retired Chinese official" and other people including a friend had tried to persuade him to tone down his comments.

  "This mainland friend wanted to see me but I refused ... because he wanted to speak to me about the matters about my show," Lee said. "I felt that there was no need to talk about it because ... there was nothing more to talk about."

  Lee, the former leader of the business-backed Liberal Party and a leading Cabinet member during British rule, is the only one of the three hosts to speak to legislators. The other two, Albert Cheng (鄭經翰) and Wong Yuk-man (黃毓民), refused, saying they feared for their safety.

  Lee said China's motive behind the intimidation was September's legislative elections, which democrats critical of China are tipped to win.

  "No one in this room would know how nervous they [China] are about this year's election," Lee said. "This nervousness is unprecedented."

  A pro-Beijing legislator, however, poured scorn on Lee's comments, saying there was no proof China was behind the threats.

  "We shouldn't make any conclusions until the police have finished their investigation," said Wong Yung-kan (黃容根) of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong party.

  He also scoffed at suggestions freedom of speech had been harmed.

  "No one has told any editors not to publish any stories, even on Teacup in a Storm they still criticize the government," Wong said.

  Pro-democracy legislator Margaret Ng (吳靄儀) said Lee's revelations were "frightening."

  "Freedom of speech means freedom from fear," she told reporters after the hearing. "If you have to be defiant and think that you must risk your life to speak out on perfectly normal political views, it is frightening."

  Meanwhile, 400 academics yesterday put their names in a full-page advertisement in the mass-circulation Apple Daily newspaper, expressing "shock and concern" over the resignations.

  "Today there is growing alarm at the threat to the freedom of speech and we need to be vigilant against the signs of its erosion," it read.

  "We firmly believe that the freedom to speak one's mind publicly should be treasured and defended," it said.

  Fears of a crackdown on free speech have added to growing mistrust of mainland authorities following Beijing's hardline ruling earlier this month against a swift transition to full democracy in Hong Kong.

  The intervention followed months of conflict between Beijing officials and pro-democracy figures, who claimed that Hong Kong's mini-Constitution provided for full elections of the territory's leader by 2007.
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