Democratic Martin Lee quotes Tung as saying the downturn "will last at least two years; we'll all tighten our belts together." But, Lee adds, "it's not very convincing, because Hong Kong people say, "I didn't even put you there."' The Democrats say they will use their electoral triumph as a license to hound the government on everything from the economy to the territory's democratic development.
They're not wasting any time: Too days after Tung hinted that Hong Kong's first-quarter growth might be negative for the first time in years, the Democratic Party announced plans to host a forum for all the political parties to come together to discuss ways to boost the economy. Pro-Beijing and pro-democracy groups alike have agreed in principle to attend. Whether or not the forum succeeds, its connotation is obvious: Democratic legislators intend to shadow the government's every move. (6)
Since it started broadcasting to China in September 1996, Radio Free Asia has been acquiring a growing audience - students, workers, medical professionals, teachers, engineers, police and army personnel and business people, according to Dan Southerland, the radio's vice-president for programming. Most of the response comes from Hubei and Sichuan provinces and Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang. The station now has two toll-free numbers for its service to China to cope with the response.
Beijing is not pleased. It has accused the radio of meddling in China's internal affairs, being funded by the American Central Intelligence Agency and spewing out "cold-war propaganda." The official China Daily said in an editorial in January that the radio's reporting was "biased and even distorted" and that "one can easily find Uncle Sam's true motive - to contain Asian countries' development, and disrupt their stability. RFA has wasted no time in the past year fabricating tales of human-rights abuses."
Beijing's broadcast headache is not about to go away. As President Bill Clinton prepared from his June 25-July 3 China trip, he stressed that the Unitod States would keep pushing China to ease restrictions on human rights and religious freedom. "In support of that message we are strengthening Radio Free Asia," he said on June 11. Late last year, Congress approved US$24.1 million in federal funds for the station for the year to September 30, 1998; that was more than double its $9.3 million budget a year earlier.
Headquarters in Washington, Radio Free Asia broadcasts to China, Tibet, Burma, Vietnam, North Korea, Laos and Cambodia in their respective local languages. It devotes most of its program time to domestic news, including such issues as the environmental damage that will be caused by the Three Gorges dam project. It also reviews banned books and has interviewed dissidents and their families, among them the parents of Wang Dan, now in exile in the U.S. Wang himself broadcast his first commentary for the station on May 13 and now has a weekly programme.
