Hong Kong and the World

2007-10-18

A Critical View of the CE's Policy Address

Here is veteran journalist Philip Bowring's take on the Chief Executive's Policy Address from the Asia Sentinel website. Bowring, a longtime Hong Kong resident and the former editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review, argues that Donald Tsang "made no significant steps to address the two most evident local problems, pollution and the income gap. Indeed, other measures he announced could make them worse." He goes on:

"As for initiatives to enhance Hong Kong’s role as an international centre they were thin on the ground. Years after Islamic finance became significant and long after London and other non-Islamic centers had rules governing it, Hong Kong’s myopic bureaucrats have just discovered it.

Indeed, Tsang seems to have almost abandoned the idea that Hong Kong should be an international city on its own account. Eager now to pander to Beijing as he once pandered to his colonial masters and to the Pope, he now urges Hong Kong to see its future in terms of capitalizing on the strength of the motherland as though there were not a vast number of businesses, particularly in the high value added services, which owe little or nothing to dealings with the mainland.

In short the Policy Address makes depressing reading for those hoping to see Hong Kong modernize its thinking and its leadership, and reduce the collusion between government and big business at the expense of the community. This is neither a blueprint for the 'harmonious society' goal of President Hu nor a city in the forefront of the world."

Fair criticism? What do you think?

2007-10-17

Recap: Lecture Six - Hong Kong and the Role of the Media

We had quite a few people away on Reading Week activities, so I thought I would provide a more detailed summary of our discussion. As usual, I have posted on the WebCT site the Powerpoint file for today's lecture.

These were the salient points from today's class:

The globalization of media has been manifested in the growth of global media organizations and the proliferation of content due to the emergence of new channels of delivery, particularly the Internet.

In the 1980s-90s, Hong Kong became a key playing field for global media groups such as Time Warner and Dow Jones that entered the market with an eye to establishing a foothold in the Asian market.

But even as media has globalized, there has also been a surge in regional or local alternatives such as StarTV which had mixed results with its English-language programming but had huge success with its Hindi broadcasts.

Key point: Even as globalization has led to the emergence of a more global consciousness among media consumers and the penetration of Asian markets by global media groups, there has also been a parallel rise in regional and local options that cater to people who want content in their own language or framed with a regional or local perspective. Hong Kong is no exception. So while consumers have clamored for "global content" such as English football or CNN International, they have also snapped up new, vibrant local products such as Apple Daily.

Our two guests, Zoher Abdoolcarim, Senior Editor of Time Asia, and Liu Kin-ming, Director of Special Projects at Hong Kong Economic Journal, discussed how Hong Kong's news media has changed since the handover. Kin-ming noted that the different news outlets in Hong Kong cater to the tastes and perspectives of their readers or viewers. English-language publications often cover topics and developments that receive little attention from Chinese-language publications, and vice versa.

Referring to the "Death of Hong Kong" cover story that Fortune Magazine ran in 1995, Zoher noted that the title was meant to be provocative but that the article itself was more nuanced and argued that Hong Kong was in for a big change in 1997; it was not really as dire as the title might have led the reader to believe. But that said, there were genuine fears among Hong Kong people about the future of the city and many citizens who could do so were getting foreign passports in case anything went wrong. The worries were certainly fueled by the events of 4 June 1989 and the crushing of pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing. This certainly colored foreign perspectives of Hong Kong's post-1997 future and of course raised concerns among local people.

Kin-ming said that during the initial period after the handover, the media in Hong Kong was feeling its way, wondering what the situation would be. This might have meant that some media were holding back, but once they found that nothing had really changed, then they continued as before. Clearly, self-censorship does happen, but this is not something that happened after the handover but was practiced beforehand, under the British, only there were different interests involved. As for the foreign media, there is little, if anything, that a publication like Time wouldn't cover if its editors thought it would be of interest to readers. But foreign media are not interested in the minutiae of developments in Hong Kong and China, looking instead at more big-picture issues and stories. Zoher noted that Time Asia's special on the tenth anniversary of the handover did not run in the Time U.S. domestic edition. There was never any thought that it would do so. There is just no interest in such a story among editors in New York.

One test case might be the coverage of the Dalai Lama's public meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush. In any of Hong Kong's newsrooms, are there editors who would want to bury such a story in the back pages instead of putting an article and/or photo on the front page? Kin-ming reckoned that certain newspapers in Hong Kong would minimize the story and even take a critical editorial view. But it is not unusual even in Western developed countries for the media to have a political slant or bias. British newspapers, for example, are renowned for leaning a particular way.

Zoher stressed that the evolution of media in Hong Kong should be seen against the backdrop of great change in China and in the perception of China. This is not the China of 1979 or 1989. There has been great progress in the mainland. In addition, the Chinese media itself has changed. While there are still much stricter limits on the news media than there are in Hong Kong, Chinese reporters are able to do much more than before. Kin-ming noted that Chinese journalists are highly skilled at working the system, doing as much as they can without over-stepping bounds. Many are fully aware of what it takes to be an excellent journalist, but they must work within the limits.

Both guests remarked on the proliferation of media in Hong Kong - the wider choice, the increase in the channels of delivery, and the easier access to global products. One recent phenomenon has been the rise in tabloid reporting, which some media critics have regarded as a form of self-censorship in that reporting on celebrities avoids having to delve into serious or sensitive issues. Zoher underscored that one should not take an elitist view - that there is room for both serious reporting and reporting on pop culture. Consumers want both. What is important is that, with the proliferation of choice, we as consumers of media should become more discriminating. We should judge for ourselves what sources of information are reliable and worthy of trust - and which ones aren't.

There was some discussion about the situation in Singapore, which paradoxically has succeeded in attracting some media groups to set up regional headquarters in the city, though it has a reputation for placing limits, either direct or indirect, on both local and foreign journalists. A reason for Singapore's success in attracting companies like Reuters to set up major operations in the city is that the government has provided incentives and the technological infrastructure to suppot these enterprises. They do not worry about what is broadcast from Singapore and are only concerned about what coverage of Singapore is distributed locally. Business and economic news is generally not a problem; they are more vigilant with reporting on local political and social issues. There have been many instances of Singapore leaders suing journalists for libel.

The media plays a vital role in Hong Kong as a check on vested interests and the excesses of political and business leaders, a mirror to society and a mirror of society, and a source of information and entertainment. The media in Hong Kong has globalized just as Hong Kong has globalized. The question is whether the media, particularly the press, can remain free and vibrant, despite the pressures that may exist that somehow fuel self-censorship and could make Hong Kong less attractive not only to investors but to its citizens.

Reporters Without Borders: Worldwide Press Freedom Index

Coincidentally, the Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders has just released its Worldwide Press Freedom Index for 2007. Hong Kong is ranked No. 61, right alongside Madagascar and just below Kosovo and ahead of Kuwait. A low ranking, I should note, does not necessarily mean that journalists are not free to report what they want, but may be an indication of the conditions in which reporters work and the threats they face. So for example, the Philippines, where the media can be quite active and vocal, comes in at No. 128, I would surmise, because some reporters there have been killed in the line of duty. The bottom-ranked countries are North Korea (No. 168) and Eritrea (No. 169). Once again, those cold countries in the North do well: Iceland and Norway (tied at No. 1), Estonia and Slovakia (joint No. 3), and Belgium, Finland and Sweden (all three at No. 5).

Next Week: A Journalist and Politician

Following on from today's discussion on the media, next week we will have as our guest former journalist Emily Lau Wai-hing, who is now a directly elected member of the Legislative Council and one of the founders of the political group The Frontier. Given her background, we will use as the starting point of the class exactly where we left off today: the state of freedom of the press in Hong Kong. I have asked Ms Lau to give her views on Hong Kong since the handover, focusing on political and social developments and the SAR's interaction with the mainland. She is never one to hold back so it should be very interesting, perhaps even provocative. You might wish to look through her website to learn about her background and policy positions.

Please note that due to her commitments at Legco, we will begin the session with Ms Lau at 9.30 am and will end around 10.45 am. After a break, we will go on until 11.30 am, as usual.

2007-10-16

Reposting: So Many Questions...

Here are links to all the Questions of the Week to make it easy for you to post your reactions:

All comments are welcome!

2007-10-15

Hong Kong and the Role of the Media

I hope that, although it is Reading Week, as many of you as possible will be able to make it to our lecture on Wednesday. As you know, our topic will be the media - the coverage of Hong Kong in the local, mainland and foreign media, as well as the role of the media in the SAR. We will have two great guests:

Zoher Abdoolcarim, Senior Editor at Time Asia and my former colleague at Asiaweek
Liu Kin-ming, Director of Special Projects at the Hong Kong Economic Journal, a blogger on PostGlobal, and former opinion page editor and general manager of the Chinese-language newspaper Apple Daily

We are very fortunate to have two of Hong Kong's top journalists coming to class. In advance of our session, you might read Zoher's thoughtful Time Asia cover story on the tenth anniversary of the handover, which I have recommended before. The anniversary issue includes an interesting roundtable discussion in which Anson Chan, Christine Loh, tycoon Gordon Wu, China Daily editor Raymond Zhou and Daniel Fung participated. You might also check out Kin-ming's excellent blog.

Seminar: Media and Politics

One of your colleagues kindly brought to my attention this Journalism and Media Studies Centre seminar on "Politics in a Media Society", which will take place on Wednesday, 17 October. Coincidentally, the topic will complement what we will be discussing in our class the same day. I'm not familiar with Prof. Donsbach's work, but I expect that the discussion should be very interesting.

2007-10-14

The 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China

China's Communist Party is convening its 17th National Congress starting tomorrow. Held every five years, the party congress is the most important political event in China and is the time when pivotal leadership and policy changes are made. Hong Kong delegates will be attending the meeting this week. No shift in policy on the SAR is expected. You may be interested in this Reuters article on Hong Kong's political development and this story from yesterday's South China Morning Post (NB: access to scmp.com is limited).

Forum on the Chief Executive's Policy Address

For those of you who are free on Monday afternoon, 15 October, from 1 pm to 2.15 pm, you may be interested in a forum on the Chief Executive's Policy Address which has been organized by the Department of Social Work and Social Administration. Christine Loh Kung-wai, founder and CEO of the think tank Civic Exchange, will be on the panel. She always has something interesting to say.

2007-10-11

Class Next Week

Just a reminder that we do have class next week (17 October) because I have to make up for cancelling the lecture on 21 November (sorry, I erred earlier: the cancelled class is 21 November; we do have class on 28 November). We will focus on the media - media perceptions of Hong Kong and the role of the media in the SAR. We will also have tutorials as usual. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Of course, if you are unable to make it due to prior Reading Week plans, travel, or any other reason, that's fine. But I hope you can attend.

The Chief Executive's Policy Address: "We have to see Hong Kong from the perspective of our country's future"

As you know, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen delivered his policy address yesterday. You may wish to read the entire speech for yourself.

Pertinent to our discussion of Hong Kong's role in the world is paragraph 126:

"To free ourselves from doubt and confusion, we have to see Hong Kong from the perspective of our country's future. Only in doing so will we be able to cultivate the right niche for ourselves in our own nation. Over the past three decades, we have contributed substantially to our country's economic growth. Hong Kong's businessmen were the earliest investors in the Mainland when our country began to reform and open up. Our professionals followed suit and headed north to embark on new ventures. In the coming decade, Hong Kong will remain a balanced, pluralistic, stable and advanced city. We play by the rules of a free market while stressing corporate social responsibility. We embrace modern values while upholding the core values of the traditional Chinese family. We promote democratic development without compromising social stability or government efficiency. We pursue economic growth, and care about environmental protection and cultural conservation. We cherish the personal freedom of individuals and pluralism, and we have a shared sense of national identity. Ours is a Chinese city, as well as a global city. Hong Kong will continue to serve the country in our unique way. We will also lay an even more solid foundation to maintain our own long-term prosperity, stability and development."

Here, the CE gets at the nub of what we have been looking at so far this semester. As Hong Kong pursues its various roles - as a an international financial and business center, a frontline actor in the global fight against infectious diseases, a regional leader in setting rule of law and governance standards, an advocate for China to the rest of the world, and a bridge between China and the U.S. - the SAR's confidence and success in meeting these various international goals and responsibilities is really predicated on its ability to find "the right niche for ourselves in our own nation." To establish its position in the world, Hong Kong has to carve out an appropriate and meaningful place for itself in China's growth and development. The question is: what is that "right niche"?

If you have any reactions to the CE's policy address, feel free to share them.

2007-10-09

A Word About Posting - and the Final Exam

We have had excellent comments posted; thank you for contributing. Please keep it up.

For those still holding back, don't feel that you have to write anything very long. You don't need to have a lengthy, finely crafted exposition, just make your point or points - 100 or 200 words will do. By all means, however, if you have a lot to say, then that's fine too. As I have mentioned, I would like everybody to contribute at least three times during the semester. More frequent contribution will help in your assessment in this part of the course, but quality is certainly more important.

My ulterior motive, I should note, is to get you primed for the final exam (at least those of you who have to take one). The final will likely consist of two or three fairly general questions, requiring replies in the form of a short essay of a few hundred words each, not unlike the comments you are posting on the blog. Posting on the blog is therefore good practice for the exam. I'm hoping that you will combine references to what you have heard in lectures with what you have read to provide focused and well thought out answers.

When posting on the blog or when taking the final, don't be too concerned about the correctness of your English, though you should try to write as clearly as you can and with your best effort at grammar and spelling. What counts more are the arguments - and your critical thinking about what you have heard, what you have read and what you already know.

2007-10-08

(Yet Another) Question of the Week: Does Hong Kong Have a Role in Fostering Good Relations Between the U.S. and China?

As a lead-in to Wednesday's class and the discussion with Jack Maisano, I thought I would post one more Question of the Week: Does Hong Kong have a role to play as a bridge between the U.S. and China? More generally, should Hong Kong play the role of advocate for China to the rest of the world to improve the understanding of China and its policies? If so, is this a role that Hong Kong has a responsibility to play?

You might recall that, over the years, many members of the Hong Kong community, including several pro-democracy politicians, worked hard to lobby American legislators and policymakers to support the granting of "most-favored nation" (MFN) trading status (later referred to as permanent "normal trade relations", or NTR) to China and then to agree to China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), which finally happened at the end of 2001. Look at this speech entitled "Facts Versus Frictions: A Role for Hong Kong in the Sino-U.S. Economic Relationship", which was delivered by Vincent Cheng, Chairman of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp., at HKU nearly two years ago. Note that he specifically limits his discussion to "the Sino-U.S. economic relationship".

(Another) Question of the Week: What is the Impact of Mother-Tongue Instruction in Hong Kong Schools?

Inspired by some of the comments that have been posted, I thought I would pose another Question of the Week: What is the impact of mother-tongue instruction on Hong Kong's overall competitiveness? Should Hong Kong shift back to favor English in schools?

What do you think?

Take a look at this article on the shortage of places at international schools and this summary of the controversy over the use of Cantonese in schools. You might also look at this overview of the issue in the "Hong Kong Stories" section of the website of the University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Centre.

2007-10-07

American Perspectives on Hong Kong

On Wednesday, as you know, our guest will be Jack Maisano, the President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. In advance of the class, you may want to read this speech that Jack delivered in Los Angeles in 2006. I expect that we will again be discussing the environment, particularly since AmCham recently published its second annual Environment Survey. The study found, not surprisingly, that air pollution has become a factor in recruiting professionals to come to live and work in Hong Kong. Here is a press release summarizing the results of the report.

I have uploaded to the WebCT site a pdf of the U.S. Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on Hong Kong since the handover, which was published in June. It provides quite a good summary of the key issues of the past ten years and offers a bipartisan U.S. perspective on American relations with Hong Kong. The study is intended for an American audience. You can find here a summary of the report and a link to download it directly.

2007-10-05

Hong Kong - the Greenest Asian City?

I just came across this new ranking of green cities and found it interesting and surprising that Hong Kong is the best performing in Asia at 18th, ahead of Tokyo (20th), Singapore (45th!) and Kuala Lumpur (49th). (This is another list that is topped by the Nordic nations - Stockholm is No. 1, while Oslo is second.) Mike Rowse and his colleagues at InvestHK should be happy about this. You might also like to check out the country rankings.

2007-10-04

Question of the Week: Does Hong Kong Have a (Cultural) Life?

My normal inclination is to choose a Question of the Week that would lead into the following week's lecture topic. But during the POLI0068 IBGM tutorial yesterday, we had such a lively discussion about what Daniel Fung said about Hong Kong's cultural life that I thought it would be fun to put this topic on the table.

Many of the IBGM students felt Daniel Fung had been unfair when he said that, after showing visitors around, there is "diddly-squat" to do in this town once you have had a nice Chinese meal. Others believed he was somewhat elitist by using the lack of a Borders bookshop (a large American chain of bookstores) here as an indication that Hong Kong's cultural life is limited. Some took exception to the observation that young people typically do little else than hang out, go shopping and play video games. We also discussed whether the government should be involved in promoting international cultural activities and attractions - or should the focus be on local Chinese culture. Daniel Fung challenged the notion that Hong Kong is "Asia's World City", at least in terms of culture. If Hong Kong isn't, then should we aspire to be?

So the questions I would pose are the following: Is there a Hong Kong culture? Are we lacking the cultural life that we should have to be a truly international city? Do we need to be a global cultural hub to be a globally competitive and cosmopolitan city? Are we too absorbed by doing business and making money? And should the government be doing more to promote culture - ditch "positive non-interventionism" and adopt an ambitious and aggressive culture policy?

Let's hear your views.

To spur your thinking, you might like to read this article by writer and former Taipei culture chief Lung Ying-tai, who is currently a visiting professor at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at HKU. This is an unofficial English translation from the original Chinese.

You may also still comment on earlier Questions of the Week - on whether being an SAR of the PRC affects Hong Kong's ability to develop its international relations, and on Hong Kong's competitiveness. Speaking of competitiveness, you might be interested in this comment by one of your colleagues who compared what Mike Rowse told us last week with what we heard from Daniel Fung. Agree - or disagree? Why not reply to this or any other comments? A free-for-all exchange - that's what this blog should be.

Feel free to comment on anything on this blog. And if you wish to initiate a topic, just email me your comment and I can post it.

Summary: Daniel Fung on the Rule of Law and Hong Kong's Competitiveness

The rule of law is important but it is only one aspect of Hong Kong’s competitiveness

The basis of the legal systems of Hong Kong and the mainland differ: common law (British) vs civil law (top-down approach, continental)

Where Hong Kong has failed is in education, culture and the environment

The moon cake problem: What happens when the mainland is able to make moon cakes of the same quality as HK's
HK-Shenzhen - Lifting of the border may happen soon. But we still drive on different sides of the road? ie how can there be a merger if the bases of our legal systems differ so fundamentally?

The CE's Policy Address

The Chief Executive of the HKSARG will deliver his policy address for 2007-8 on 10 October. Watch for him to talk about many of the issues we have been discussing. Christine Loh and her colleagues at the think tank Civic Exchange have produced their "alternative policy address", which you might find interesting.