"We have strong objections to Jiang's participation in these elections because he is actually the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Hong Kong. We do not think it is right for him to represent Hong Kong in the National People's Congress," Hong Kong democracy advocate Martin Lee said.
The colonization process took another step forward when the mainland's official English-language China Daily newspaper launched a Hong Kong edition on Oct. 6, 1997.
"The Hong Kong edition seeks to offer its readers a unique insight into Mainland China's. development," Editor-in-chief Liu Dizhong said.
Meanwhile, the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii staged a conference for journalists on Nov. 15, 1997 which I attended the conference was sponsored by the Better Hong Kong Foundation. The Hong Kong Standard and Radio Television Hong Kong.
The event was held at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents' Club and marked the 30th anniversary of the Jeffcrson Fellowships, one of the region's most successful programs for journalists.
Somewhere along the way, the title of the gathering was changed from "Hong Kong After the Handover" and advertised invitees such as Chief Executive Tung, Mainland Chinese Foreign Affairs Representative Ma Yuzhen and leading Hong Kong financial officers failed to attend.
Journalists provided lively comments and opinions but these remarks were most tidbits one hears around the bar when foreign correspondents gather. The government's input on the future of press freedom and financial fortunes was anticipated but not given.
Attending the conference was Marilyn Green, Executive Director of the World Press Freedom Committee of the United States, an umbrella organization with some 44 journalistic groups that are watching and promoting press freedom worldwide - including in Hong Kong. Greene, a former correspondent for USA Today, promised some specific observations on Hong Kong's press freedom situation in the future.
However, Hong Kong's press situation seems like one giant contradiction.
On the one hand, Ding Guangen, head of the propaganda department in the CCP's Central Committee, on Nov. 8 called on journalists throughout Mainland China to stick to the basic line of the CCP and "do a better job in correctly guiding public opinion."
"The press should keep in line with the Central Committee headed by Jiang Zemin and serve the socialist cause, the people and the central task of the party," Ding said.
