On Sept. 27 1993, the Chinese government arrested a former colleague of mine, Xi Yang (
The importance of the Xinhua News Agency is not related to its journalism, but to its political role in Hong Kong.
Everybody knows all too well that Xinhua was not only a news agency in Hong Kong, but actually served as the China's de facto embassy, or more precisely, the underground government and local headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party, both before and after 1997.
Xinhua had been operating under a veil of secrecy for more than 52 years in Hong Kong. It was well known that the Chinese leadership in 1949 authorized the branch to serve as its contact with the British colonial government in the absence of formal relations. In fact, the Xinhua office had been run by its first director, Qiao Guanhua (
Xu Jiatun (
It is only now that Beijing has decided to change the office's name to represent its longstanding status as a political organ -- it is now called the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government (
At the renaming ceremony Jiang Enzhu (
This statement sounds reasonable enough. But why bother changing the name at all, and why now?
According to news reports, an anonymous senior government official confirmed the widely acknowledged "secret" that the several hundred Xinhua employees in Hong Kong are Chinese government officials. Another 80 to 90 people actually do work as journalists for Xinhua in a separate editorial office, he clarified.
That is what we journalists used to refer to "Big Xinhua" (
Does this mean we can expect the Xinhua News Agency in Hong Kong to be more journalistically professional in the future? If so, would its "political role" be less than that of the other branches around the world, thus fulfilling the promise of "one country, two systems (
The answers to both questions are "no" and "no."
But the renaming does have an important political point. It is an announcement that Hong Kong and Macau are both now territories belonging to China and therefore Xinhua no longer needs to serve a diplomatic role.
At best, the change can be seen as a step toward "democracy with Chinese characteristics." Instead of a single "party-state-media" entity (
But what the name change proves above all else, is that Beijing will make decisions directly without any reference to its new territories.
Only when a Hong Kong newspaper broke the news on Jan. 15 did the people -- including officials -- in Hong Kong and Macau know that the name of Xinhua was going to change.
Hong Kong's National Peoples's Congress local deputy (
In fact, Tung Chee-hua (
And just what are the Liaison Office's responsibilities? According to a Xinhua dispatch, the office will:
* liaise with the office of the commissioner of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and with the Hong Kong Garrison;
* liaise with and help PRC authorities supervise China-funded organizations;
* liaise with members of all the professions in the SAR, foster cross-border exchanges and reflect the views of Hong Kong people to the PRC government;
* deal with affairs related to Taiwan; and
* handle "central government tasks."
Though, for the most part, the central Chinese government has maintained a hands-off policy in dealing with the territory over the past two-and-a-half years, many critics said that this is because Tung has "decided" everything according to the will of Beijing.
It is hardly surprising that Tung Chee-hua, a successful and well-known businessman but a hesitant politician, has been accused of being a "yes-man" to Beijing. Local officials have complained that he never discussed with them whether Hong Kong should apply to be host of the next Asian Games. His decision to do so was to create a platform for China's athletes. This might also answer the question why Tung didn't think the Liaison Office's responsibilities will "impinge on Hong Kong's autonomy" -- there isn't much left to impinge on.
In an old joke about Mao Zedong (
Cheryl Lai (
BLUE WAVE: The KMT’s Chiang Wan-an defeated the DPP’s Chen Shih-chung and is to become Taipei mayor, while President Tsai Ing-wen stepped down as DPP chairperson after many of the party’s candidates, handpicked by the leadership, performed poorly The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday flipped key mayoral seats in Taipei, Taoyuan and Keelung, and won control of 13 out of 22 cities and counties in the nine-in-one local elections. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) last night resigned as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson over a poor showing by the party’s candidates, who were handpicked by the DPP leadership rather than chosen through primaries. The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) won its first high-profile race with Hsinchu mayoral candidate Ann Kao (高虹安) defeating Shen Hui-hung (沈慧虹) of the DPP with 45.02 percent of the vote to Shen’s 35.68 percent. Voters were choosing more than
UNDETERRED: The US chip designer’s plan showed that Taiwan remains attractive for investment by global companies despite cross-strait tensions, Wang Mei-hua said US graphics chip designer Nvidia Corp is planning to relocate its Hong Kong-based logistics center to Taiwan, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said on Wednesday. The government had been in discussions with Nvidia regarding tax incentives to facilitate the move since last year, Wang said in an interview with the Central News Agency, adding that the two sides had reached a consensus. Wang did not provide details about the timetable for the move or the planned tax arrangements for Nvidia. The relocation would boost the local economy, as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is a major supplier of graphics processing
Kaohsiung police last week busted a money laundering operation suspected of seeking to interfere in tomorrow’s local elections. The operation was allegedly headed by a man surnamed Lee (李), who had received NT$9.5 billion (US$306.18 million) from China over the past six months, Kaohsiung police said yesterday, adding that Lee’s ring is suspected to be part of a larger Chinese effort to interfere in the elections and support pro-China candidates. Officers arrested Lee, 35, and his girlfriend, searched his mansion, and seized the money he had allegedly received from China and three luxury vehicles, police said. The operation was disguised as an online
CAUTION: Wearing a mask in crowded places and for people with chronic illnesses or allergies can help prevent COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, the CECC said The mask mandate for outdoor settings is to lifted on Thursday, and the weekly cap on international inbound travelers is to be removed on Dec. 10, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said at its regular news conference yesterday. The center also announced that starting from Friday, children aged five to 11 can receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster, and that rules for visiting hospital patients are to be partially eased from Dec. 10. While wearing a mask will no longer be mandatory outdoors, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) reminded the public that it would still be required
RSS