views & opinions

views & opinions

The NDP are working with their old friends in Communist China again, good to see them still talking.

[–]OTOPIAN[S] 1 point 13 hours ago 

The only son of disgraced Communist Party official Cheng Weigao, Michael Ching, 45, is being pursued by China for alleged embezzlement and concealing illegal gains. He is seeking refugee status in Canada.

Did he fly 1st class to Canada to claim "refugee" status?

[–]Tenaciousceeee 1 point 13 hours ago 

For people who complain about thinkprogress and thetyee, you would think you'd consider what you're sourcing:

The Kuok family is known to be inclined towards the central government of China, and questions have been raised over the paper's editorial independence.[5] There have been concerns, denied by Kuok, over the forced departures, in rapid succession, of several staff and contributors who were considered critical of China's government or its supporters in Hong Kong. These included, in the mid-1990s, their popular cartoonist Larry Feign, humour columnist Nury Vittachi, and numerous China-desk staff, namely 2000–01 editorial pages editor Danny Gittings, Beijing correspondent Jasper Becker, and China pages editor Willy Lam, who departed after his reporting had been publicly criticised by Robert Kuok.[12][13][14][15]

Cartoonist Feign was abruptly dismissed not long after Kuok's purchase of the newspaper, and after running several cartoons about the culling of human body parts from Chinese prisoners. His firing was defended as "cost cutting", but was widely viewed as political self-censorship during the uncertain final years before Hong Kong's handover to the PRC.[16]

Editorial page editor Gittings complained that in January 2001 he was told to take a "realistic" view of editorial independence and ordered not to run extracts of the Tiananmen Papers, though ultimately was allowed, after protesting "strenuously", to do so. The editor had believed that there had already been sufficient coverage.[17]

At the launch of a joint report published by the Hong Kong Journalists' Association and Article 19 in July 2001, the chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists' Association said: "More and more newspapers self-censor themselves because they are controlled by either a businessman with close ties to Beijing, or part of a large enterprise, which has financial interests over the border."[12]

Mark Clifford, former editor-in-chief of The Standard from 2004–06, was hired as editor-in-chief of 'The Post' in February 2006.[18] He presided over the controversial dismissal of several journalists over an internal prank,[19][20] and himself resigned with effect 1 April 2007.[21]

Editor-in-Chief Wang Xiangwei, appointed by the owner in 2012 after consultation with the Liaison Office, was criticised for his decision to reduce the paper's coverage of the death of Li Wangyang on 7 June 2012.[22] Wang, who had left the office for the day, reportedly returned to the paper after midnight to reverse the staff editors' decision to run a full story. The Post published a two-paragraph report inside the paper; other news media reported it prominently.[23] A senior staff member who sought to understand the decision circulated the resulting email exchanges, that indicate he received a stern rebuff from Wang.[24] Self-censorship concerns were raised in the Chinese-language press of the territory because Wang is Chinese-born, and is a member of the Jilin Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; the paper has since stepped up coverage of the death and aftermath as major news stories.[25] Wang made a statement on 21 June, in which he said he understood the "huge responsibility to deliver news... [and]... the journalistic heritage we have inherited". and said that his decision not to pursue extensive coverage as the story broke was pending "more facts and details surrounding the circumstances of this case".[26]

Reporter Paul Mooney, whose contract with the paper was not renewed in May 2012, said that the Li Wangyang story was not an isolated incident: Wang Xiangwei has "long had a reputation as being a censor of the news... Talk to anyone on the China reporting team at the South China Morning Post and they'll tell you a story about how Wang has cut their stories, or asked them to do an uninteresting story that was favourable to China."[27]

Despite the reported sentiments of the owners, the Post does report on commemorations of the Tiananmen Square Massacre,[28] and ran an editorial criticising the one-child policy in 2013.[29]

In May 2015, the Post told columnists Philip Bowring, Steve Vines, Kevin Rafferty and Frank Ching that their services would no longer be needed. All have criticised the government in commentaries on various subjects, over a number of years. The manner of their dismissal generated criticism, as well as speculation as to who had effected the removals.[22][30][31]

[–]Tsslltng_Glocknspls 1 point 11 hours ago 

One can certainly understand why a government would not want to have a public broadcaster or independent journalist or underground newspaper inciting citizen’s emotions about this or that horrendous governmental injustice.

Same reason you shut down the voice of public servants, scientists, statisticians, and other sundry public employees that might know of something going wrong. It’s all about not informing the public about things that demand accountability.

I do not envy Chinese citizens, regardless their personal wealth. I do not think we should emulate their government.