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.
On 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.
By Yu Sha
Late 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.
In 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 (
In September, 1999, Kuok Hock-nien bought the SCMP from Rupert Murdoch. As this newspaper had played a leading role in Hong Kong's mainstream public opinion and also has wide international influence, the acquisition was seen as Beijing's move to control the Hong Kong media. As a result, another English newspaper Eastern Express (東方快訊) popped up to fill in the expected media vacuum SCMP's change of direction. But SCMP dared not temper further with its editorial direction, partly due to fears that this might affect circulation and partly because the newspaper itself was under close media scrutiny. Because the SCMP's editorial direction did not change significantly, the Eastern Express failed to snatch a share of its readership and closed shop within a few years as a result.
Before Hong Kong's handover in 1997, the SCMP dismissed Larry Feign (方南理), the cartoonist who did SCMP's "The World of Lily Wong" cartoon column and the "troublemaker" noted for his pithy observations.
Rumor had it that Feign was dismissed because of two of his cartoons, which satirized Li Peng (李鵬) and the sale of organs from executed Chinese prisoners, had offended the Beijing authorities. Feign's dismissal gave rise to wide-spread criticism in the media.
Lam's crime -- offending Jiang Zemin -- is much more serious. That was why the boss had to deal with him in person. Of course, the dealing must not be too blatant. After the "letter to the editor," there had to be a probation period for Lam to repent.
But Lam had not only waged a war of words against his "reader" boss, but also written a series of inside stories and commentaries on the annual meeting of Chinese leaders in Beidaihe (北戴河) this summer and the fifth plenary session of the 15th CPC central committee (十五屆五中全會) this fall. Especially, Lam's comments on Beijing's sensitive personnel issues had been widely circulated in both the local and foreign media. Inevitably, this angered Beijing even further. The immediate cause of Lam's dismissal should be an article published at the end of October about Jiang having suffered major setbacks at the CPC central committee meeting. The article was a major blow to Jiang's authority and therefore had everything to do with his hollering act in front of Hong Kong journalists on Oct. 27. Even before Jiang's railing, Beijing's mouthpieces in Hong Kong had already blamed SCMP for going "out of place." The paper had gone beyond what was tolerable to Beijing.
Even if Beijing did not order Lam's dismissal, the SCMP's Kuok family would have known what to do to appease Jiang. Being a successful entrepreneur, Kuok knows how to smooth over the situation and prevent further repercussions. That was why Lam was not dismissed at once, but was simply "held up in the air" (
Lam's case cannot be viewed as an isolated event. Before this, the barrage of attacks launched by pro-communist political figures against a radio station, Beijing's hefty investment in Hong Kong's media groups, and the SAR government's persistent attempts to control the media circles, all lay bare Beijing's scheme to hold the reins of Hong Kong's media. The Beijing regime also wants to boss around other media groups in Taiwan and elsewhere around the world. In fact, some of them have already caved in to this one-party authoritarian regime and started chanting eulogies to it.
Paul Lin (
Chinese actor Alan Yu (于朦朧) died after allegedly falling from a building in Beijing on Sept. 11. The actor’s mysterious death was tightly censored on Chinese social media, with discussions and doubts about the incident quickly erased. Even Hong Kong artist Daniel Chan’s (陳曉東) post questioning the truth about the case was automatically deleted, sparking concern among overseas Chinese-speaking communities about the dark culture and severe censorship in China’s entertainment industry. Yu had been under house arrest for days, and forced to drink with the rich and powerful before he died, reports said. He lost his life in this vicious
A recent trio of opinion articles in this newspaper reflects the growing anxiety surrounding Washington’s reported request for Taiwan to shift up to 50 percent of its semiconductor production abroad — a process likely to take 10 years, even under the most serious and coordinated effort. Simon H. Tang (湯先鈍) issued a sharp warning (“US trade threatens silicon shield,” Oct. 4, page 8), calling the move a threat to Taiwan’s “silicon shield,” which he argues deters aggression by making Taiwan indispensable. On the same day, Hsiao Hsi-huei (蕭錫惠) (“Responding to US semiconductor policy shift,” Oct. 4, page 8) focused on
George Santayana wrote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This article will help readers avoid repeating mistakes by examining four examples from the civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forces and the Republic of China (ROC) forces that involved two city sieges and two island invasions. The city sieges compared are Changchun (May to October 1948) and Beiping (November 1948 to January 1949, renamed Beijing after its capture), and attempts to invade Kinmen (October 1949) and Hainan (April 1950). Comparing and contrasting these examples, we can learn how Taiwan may prevent a war with
In South Korea, the medical cosmetic industry is fiercely competitive and prices are low, attracting beauty enthusiasts from Taiwan. However, basic medical risks are often overlooked. While sharing a meal with friends recently, I heard one mention that his daughter would be going to South Korea for a cosmetic skincare procedure. I felt a twinge of unease at the time, but seeing as it was just a casual conversation among friends, I simply reminded him to prioritize safety. I never thought that, not long after, I would actually encounter a patient in my clinic with a similar situation. She had
RSS