July 20, 2004

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Behind closed doors

Hong Kong's odious Liberal Party, the political incarnation of the tycoons' desire to maintain a grip on HK's polity ala Russia, have realised if they want to win direct election seats there are more votes with the general public than with the business elite. This amazing political revelation will hopefully result in James Tien missing out on a seat in September's LegCo elections. Yesterday he had the following disturbing comments:

``I hope the Liberal Party can develop into a ruling party. If we win more seats, we can be a stronger representative of the public and we can better reflect public opinion to the government,'' he [Tien] said...After chanting their election slogan, "Fight for the interests of the moderate majority. Exercise the power of balance'', Tien admitted he, Chow and Ting faced an uphill battle in the direct elections because they had no record of community work.
Unfortunately they will still be in the next LegCo thanks to the functional seat system where various vested interests get to appoint politicians to the Council. But with a slogan like that and an admitted lack of interest in the community (until now, that is) it will almost be a shame to see them fail at the elections. They're the kind of party that makes Hong Kongs democrats look good.

Far more interesting is the release of a report on Christianity in China. While China has a network of "approved" churches the report states there are a plethora of clandestine "house churches" across the Mainland. China has locked up people for religious beliefs, especially those deemed to be part of cults as defined by the Government. As an example the Roman Catholic Church is not an approved church in China, partly because of the matter of Papal authority (China sees it as a potentially undermining force towards the CCPs rule; please see Poland for an example) and partly because of the Vatican's cordial relations as a result of this with Taiwan. The SCMP reports that at the same time Shanghai is clamping down on religious activity:

Shanghai plans to implement new rules on religion that will for the first time regulate the activities of foreign residents and the use of the internet by religious groups in the city, government sources said....Shanghai's existing rules on religion date back nine years. The city is revising them as it tries to cope with a rising number of foreign residents and the rapid growth of the internet as a medium for proselytising.

At the same time, the central government is drafting its first national regulation on religion to replace a patchwork of rules and policies, but Shanghai's regulations will be implemented sooner because local authorities see an urgent need to keep up with change. Under the proposed rules, Shanghai will increase supervision by setting up a watchdog to help monitor the religious activities of foreign residents...In another nod to modernity, the rules also aim to strengthen supervision of the use of the internet by religious groups...

"Previously, the rules weren't designed for internet content. Now, we must strengthen the management of the internet," an official said. (my emphasis)

Lest we forget what China is about. They may be an economic powerhouse and emerging geopolitical power, but on human rights they can be a tyrannical dictatorship.

posted by Simon on 07.20.04 at 09:57 AM in the




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