Ronnie Chan, one of Hong KongтАЩs most notorious Beijing sycophants, was buttering up his mainland friends again today. As he closed an Asia Society event, the organizationтАЩs local chairman declared that the Hong Kong media is freer now than it was before 1997, because the British colonial authorities restricted the Chinese newspapers. тАЬAnd if you donтАЩt know about that, then you are ignorant,тАЭ the property tycoon emphasized.
Curious what Mr. Chan was alluding to, we went to ask him afterward. After all, most observers agree that Hong KongтАЩs press freedoms have eroded to a greater or lesser degree since the handover, with possibly some pro-China types insisting there has been no change. Was Mr. Chan perhaps dredging up an incident from 40 years ago, when charges of sedition were laid against publishers during the Cultural Revolution-era riots and bombings?
Not at all, Mr. Chan averred тАФ he was referring to the 1980s and тАЩ90s. British officials тАЬcalled journalists on the carpetтАЭ when they were unhappy with their stories, and withheld access from publications that were critical. The Chinese administration since 1997 doesnтАЩt do that, he said, and couldnтАЩt because it is under greater scrutiny. When challenged on the absurdity of his notion that such practices amount to censorship тАФ they are standard practice for all governments, or indeed for private organizations, seeking to spin coverage тАФ Mr. Chan got agitated and said that it might be тАЬsoft censorshipтАЭ but it was censorship nonetheless.
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