Two important themes were summed up at a speech to the International Federation of Journalists, meeting in Hong Kong in 1995, where Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten said, "The argument about free speech is part and parcel of a wider argument about so-called Asian values, which are depicted by their proponents as offering an alternative to decadent, free-wheeling Western liberalism. The stress is on allegedly Confucian values - hard work, the family, education, home ownership (I say 'allegedly' because these values are all at the core of all those old Victorian hymns, and hardly qualify as uniquely Asian)."
Patten continued through his speech to ask why China is routinely considered a parallel universe, exempt from moral and other standards. And why does even framing that question sound "anti-China?" Patten said for the same non-reason that historians have mostly overlooked such details as the holocausts of the '50s and '60s in which millions died on the whim of 'the old pervert' Mao - because China is, well, "different."
Whatever his motives for mounting this particular hobby horse, Patten was commendably thorough in exposing one of the great intellectual blind spots of the age. His assertion is that speaking up for a civil society in China matters more than cooing over its possible economic might in the next century. East and West will not mark the end of the discussion but it makes a forceful contribution: Never mind what the People's Republic might be, now or in the future; hold it to account for what it does to its people.
Colleague Lo in Taiwan noted that although the Chinese government has refrained itself from curbing the press in Hong Kong, it has added Article 23 to the Basic Law, "banning acts of treason, sedition and subversion against the Central People's Government or theft of state secrets." Aside from changes in the law, the Chinese leaders have reiterated that they will not allow the press in Hong Kong to advocate the independence of Taiwan or Hong Kong. Nor will they allow personal attacks on the Chinese national leaders. In addition, China has actively "co-opted" some media by patronizing them with abundance of economic benefits and information resources.
There is plenty of reason for being pessimistic about future of Hong Kong's news media. Lo said that some media watchers have observed the omission of columns critical of China, the adoption of more conciliatory editorial stand towards China, and even the avoidance of commenting on China affairs. In a recent study of Hong Kong press, Lee and Chu (1998) also reported several cases of overt and covert self-censorship concerning news coverage of China. "It is self-censorship rather than direct intimidation that will undermine freedom of expression in Hong Kong," said the Committee to Protect Journalists.
