October 21, 1999
Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa
Central Government Offices-5th floor, Main Wing
Lower Albert Rd.
Hong Kong
VIA FAX: 011-852-2509-0571
BY FACSIMILE
Your Excellency:
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about the implications of this week’s abrupt transfer of Cheung Man-yee from her post as director of Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK). Cheung has been a staunch defender of press freedom during her 13-year tenure as director of RTHK, a publicly funded broadcast agency with a long tradition of editorial autonomy.
With its strong reputation for quality broadcasting, RTHK is considered a bellwether for press freedom in post-handover Hong Kong. Journalists in Hong Kong are worried that persistent pressure from Beijing to rein in RTHK may have contributed to your administration’s decision to post Cheung overseas.
Though Cheung publicly welcomed her new assignment as Hong Kong’s principal economic and trade representative in Tokyo, local journalists have expressed their profound dismay over the news, fearing that Cheung’s departure from the agency signals the erosion of RTHK’s independence.
RTHK has repeatedly come under attack by officials in Beijing, most recently in August when Tsang Hin-chi, a member of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, criticized the broadcaster for a program in which Taiwan’s de facto envoy to Hong Kong defended President Lee Teng-hui’s advocacy of “state-to-state” relations between the island and the mainland. Tsang said that such views should not have been aired on RTHK, claiming that “Stability is necessary for Hong Kong. As a government-funded station, it ought to have self-control. [Otherwise] discussion on drafting of Article 23 has to start sooner.”
Article 23 of Hong Kong’s constitution, known as the Basic Law, says that the “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition [or] subversion against the Central People’s Government.”
In March 1998, Xu Siwin, a Hong Kong delegate to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Congress, complained that RTHK was too free to criticize the government and that the broadcast agency was “a remnant of British rule.” Xu stated publicly that in response to his frequent requests for Your Excellency to “do something” about RTHK, you replied “Slowly, slowly.”
As an organization of journalists dedicated to the defense of press freedom around the world, CPJ is writing to urge Your Excellency to act quickly to allay fears that RTHK’s independence will be compromised.
CPJ joins the Hong Kong Journalists Association in requesting that your administration introduce legislation to guarantee RTHK’s freedom from government interference. We also respectfully ask Your Excellency to name a new permanent director of RTHK as soon as possible. We hope that Cheung’s successor will share her commitment to independent public broadcasting.
We thank you for your attention to these concerns, and welcome your response.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
Join CPJ in Protesting Attacks on the Press in Hong Kong
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Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa
Central Government Offices-5th floor, Main Wing
Lower Albert Rd.
Hong Kong
VIA FAX: 011-852-2509-0571