On June 29, Malaysian tycoon Kuok Hock-nien (郭鶴年), who owns the South China Morning Post (南華早報, SCMP) and invests massively in China, wrote a letter to his own newspaper as a reader. In the letter, Kuok lashed out at Willy Wo-Lap Lam (林和立), the paper's deputy editor and editor of the China desk, for Lam's earlier essay on a meeting hosted by Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) for 30 Hong Kong tycoons, including Kuok. The meeting was an attempt to rally the tycoons in support of Special Administrative Region (SAR) Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華). Apart from railing against Lam, Kuo also criticized the SCMP for its tendency toward viewing "patriotism" as a mistake and an evil. Of course, the assertion touched on the newspaper's editorial direction. Later, seven tycoons went on to endorse Kuok's view. Since the boss took action in such a threatening gesture, the editorial direction of SCMP was doomed to change. And someone was expected to "be sacrificed" sooner or later.
\nOn Nov. 3, the Apple Daily (蘋果日報) broke the story of Lam's expected replacement: Robert Keatley, SCMP's editor, told Lam on Nov. 2 that he would soon be replaced by a man surnamed Wang from China as editor of the Chinese edition. Lam was unwilling to comment on the event since he had not received any written documents concerning the replacement. However, due to Lam's international reputation, the event immediately attracted attention from media circles at home and abroad.
\nLate in the afternoon of Nov. 3, the SCMP management made an internal announcement saying Wang Xiangwei (王向偉), who had previously worked for Beijing's China Daily (中國日報), would replace Lam as China editor on Nov. 20. Lam, who had worked at SCMP for 12 years, called Keatley, who had taken a hike to Guangzhou, and told him he was resigning. Lam also called the management's decision "unreasonable and disturbing" and said it would eventually damage Hong Kong's press freedom. Lam left the SCMP soon afterwards.
\nIn addition to the Asian Wall Street Journal, there used to be two English newspapers in Hong Kong: SCMP and the Hong Kong Standard, which respectively belonged to Australian media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and Sally Aw Sian (
By Yu Sha
The US intelligence community’s annual threat assessment for this year certainly cannot be faulted for having a narrow focus or Pollyanna perspective. From a rising China, Russian aggression and Iran’s nuclear ambitions, to climate change, future pandemics and the growing reach of international organized crime, US intelligence analysis is as comprehensive as it is worrying. Inaugurated two decades ago as a gesture of transparency and to inform the public and the US Congress, the annual threat assessment offers the intelligence agencies’ top-line conclusions about the country’s leading national-security threats — although always in ways that do not compromise “sources and methods.”
Let’s begin with the bottom line. The sad truth of the matter is that Beijing has trampled on its solemn pledge to grant Hong Kong a great deal of autonomy for at least fifty years. In so doing, the PRC ignored a promise Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) made to both Great Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the wider world back in the early 1980s. This was at a time when Beijing, under Deng and his successors, appeared to be seeking an equitable accommodation with the West. I remain puzzled by China’s recent policy shift. Was it because Hong Kong was perceived
The recent removal of items related to Japanese Shinto culture from the Taoyuan Martyrs’ Shrine and Cultural Park has caused an uproar. The complex was built as a Shinto shrine by the Japanese during the colonial period, but was transformed into a martyrs’ shrine commemorating veterans of the Chinese Civil War after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) retreated to Taiwan in 1949. Figurines of the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu Okami were allowed into the shrine for a cultural event last year, attracting throngs of visitors to see the Shinto decorations and practices. However, some people accused the Taoyuan City Government of
The recent meeting in New Delhi between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov — the first such high-level interaction since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — suggests that diplomacy might no longer be a dirty word. The 10 minute meeting on the sidelines of the G20 gathering occurred after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan reportedly urged Ukraine to show Russia that it is open to negotiating an end to the war. Together, these developments offer a glimmer of hope that a ceasefire is within the realm of the possible. The
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