The Correspondent, February 1992

FEBRUARY 1992

COVER STORY 15 A moment in history

I

THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS'

p TESSI\/E iln 0ur v

CLUB

GUEST SPEAKERS

North Block, 2 Lowe¡ Albert Road, Hong Kong.

Telephone: 521

l5l1

Simon Twiston Davies interviews Hong Kong-born AP photographer Liu Heung-shing whose book USSR: The Collapse of an Empire was recently launched in Hong Kong.

Fax: 868 4092

President - Peter Seidlitz

First Yice President - St€ve Vines

5

The other side of China.

Political prisoner Lau Shan-ching tells his story of 10 years behind bars in China

Second Vice President - Wendy Hughes

st

Correspondent Member Governors Jonathan Friedlmd, Humphrey Hawksley, Gilliæ Tucker, Claudia Rosen, Ma¡tin Howell, Bob Davis, Catherine Ong, Hri Bedi, Mry Ellen Fullam Journalist Member Governors Dav¡d Thurston, Sruart Wolfendale Associate Member Govérnors Roger Thomas, F. C. H. Wadsworth, Peter Humble, Mike Smith Professional Committee:

d

Convenor: Steve Vines,

Members: Peter Seidlitz,

Hili

NEWS AND VIEWS

I

Macau Week at the FCC

10

Politics based on consensus

12

The Parable of the Box

13

Scum and liars

18

Learning from the Bast

Bedi,

rùy'olfendale, Wendy Hughes, Humpkey Hawksley, Catheríne Ong, Paul Bayfield

Stua¡

Membership Committee: Martin Howell, David Thurston Entertainment Committee: Irene O'Shea

Yideo Committee: Mike Smith, Gillim Tucker Publications Committee: Convenor : David Thurston, Members: F.Wadsworth, Hili Bedi, Peter Humble, Bob Davis, Martin Howell, Wendy Hughes, Francine Breveni Wall Comm¡ttee: Bob Davis, David Thurston

THE CORRESPONDENT

Singapore's Minister for Information, George Yeo, on press freedom.

20

Here be celestial beings the joumey from Hong Kong to the roof of the world to witness the crowning of Miss Tibet.

Bill Barker chronicles

23

Governor leaves having played a straight bat Stuart 'Wolfendale on the departure of Cluþ member and Hong Kong Goveinor, Sir David Wilson.

Editor: Kul rililson Advertising Manager: Rosemary Little Page Make-up: Jme Recio md Eva Lai Artist: Amando D. Recio, Jr. EDITORIAL OFFICE: AsiaPacifi c Di¡ectories Ltd, Rm. 1301, 13Æ. Pæk Commercial Centre, ó-10 Shelter Srreet, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Telephone: 577 9331; Fax: 89O 7287

I

necessarily those of the Foreign Conespondents' Club.

The Conespondent is published monthly for and on behalf of The Foreign Conespondents' Club by:

AsiaPacific Directories Ltd. Rm 1301, l3/F, Park Commercial Centre, 6- l0 Shelter Stret, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

Tel: 57'l 9331:' Fax: 890 7287 Publisher: Vonnie Bishop Managing Director: Mike Bishara

SOUTHERN STAR MOTOR CO. (Distributor for

Colour separation by: Colour Art Graphic Company Printed by Print House Ltd, Blk A, 16Æ, Aik Sm Fry Bldg, 14 rùr'estlmds Rd, Quarry Bay, H.K. Tel: 562 6157 (3 lines)

Southern Ch¡na), 1702 Dina House,

1l Duddell Street, Hong Kong. Tel: 868 0411

MERCEDES-BENZ AG. BEIJING LIAISON OFFICE (for Northern China), 20/F, CITÌC

24-26 27 28

OBITUARY Francis Lara 1925-1991 T. J. Aldeguer 1900-1991

@ The Conespondent

Opinions expressed by writers tre not

I

PEOPLE

THE ZOO

DEPARTMENTS Letter From The President ............

Manager's Report Letters New Members ..........

Reciprocal Clubs Wolfendale at Large

) 3

29 31 31

32

Liu Heung-shing shows a man crying at the of his brother killed during the attempted coup in Moscow last funeral Cover photograph by

August.

Building,

l9 Jian Guo Men V/ai Dajie, Beijing. Tel: 5003051 ZUNG FU A Jardine Pacific Business (Distributor for Hong Kong and Macau), Bonaventure House, I-eighton Road, Hong Kong. Tel' 895 7288 023 Marine Deck, Ocean Tèrminal, Kowloon Tel: 735 1199. Zung Fu Carpark Building, 50 Po Loi Street, Hunghom. Tel,76+ 6gtg.

Mercedes-Benz Engineered to move the human spirit

THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1992

1

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Renovation pays s most of you have been able to observe, the Club has had afacelift. Almost all of the comments made to me since the scaffolding and the "Berlin Wall" have been removed have been very positive. The renovation work, including the upgrading of the restaurant, is already paying dividends. The reading room-restaurant is now being used at all times. Take a look for yourselves. ln order to improve the selections available in the main bar, the Board has decided to install an "order-yourself" sandwich and salad bar next to the new lounge in the Main Bar. The result of the redecoration is that business is up. And December proved a good month as well, with profits soaring to $325,000. January looks like being just as good.

An average of more than 1,000 people are using the Veranda for lunch and dinner per month. The fact that we have two restaurant choices now upstairs has sparked healthy competition between the chefs involved. Hats off to Manager Heinz Grabner for thoroughly carrying out the Board's renovation and modernisation policies.

A new Food and Beverage Committee

was installed at the end of January, its members recruited not from the Board, but from the general membership. The membership is experienced in F&8. Lyn Gredstedt, PR supremo with Hong Kong

& Shanghai Hotels, was elected

F&B

Committee chairman. The panel's first meeting discussed a new menu coming out soon and was informed that a northern ltalian cook from Milano will be taking

over the Veranda Restaurant after the Chinese New Year holidays.

A major wine tasting evening is being arranged for March in order to give the

membership a say in what the wine list should look like and, more importantly, what house wine should be carried in the f uture.

On the professional front, the news was also positive. The Macau Week not only brought in the likes of Dr Stanley Ho and Minister of lnformation Dr Salavessa

2

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

MANAGER'S REPORT

off

ontinuing on ourculinary tour

resulted in handsome profits for our coffers.

We now have sponsorship for a Swiss

Week from Swiss Volksbank but it is going to have to wait until November.

several months in 1992. Another firm, Triumph, the ladies undies maker, not only took out advertisements but took an immediate Associate Membership for its GM. Our aims are to reach far beyond lce House Street, circulationwise.

The Correspondentis working on a series of specials this year, starting with overseas property in April. Other pieces in the works concern education abroad, insurance, and pensions for journalists, plus off-beat travel.

As you probably know, the Video Club closes in March and this will enable us to enlarge the workroom. This will include a work table for photographers and comes at the specific request of FCC lensmen.

Bob Davis of Stockhouse photo agency is going to decorate the Club walls with larger photographs and we plan exhibitions of both photos and art at regular intervals. The first art show will be in midMarch.

The Board's goals for the Year of the Monkey: The bars and restaurants will keep prices lower than comparable clubs while showing a surplus to build on the Development Fund to enable us to purchase our own premises.

We carried out the renovations within the budget of $2.5 million, some $1.2 million having been set aside by previous Boards.

ln short, our finances are sound, and

a new menu featuring the rich and varied regional cuisines of ltaly.

From February 10 onwards, chef o Confalonieri, whose career has taken t him from some of the great kitchens s t\ of ltaly to California, Korea and now Hong Kong, will offer a menu featûr- a ing a wide range of dishes from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Alpine slopes of northern ltaly.

The Trattoria La Veranda will be open for lunches and dinner daily. We look forward to seeing you there and enjoying the true taste of ltaly.

While on the subject of food, our next major food theme night will be on Tuesday, February 25, and will focus on cuisine from Sri Lanka. There will be a wide range of dishes to choose from such as chicken mulligatawny soup, isso miris starts the Lunar Year with

it

That's because the chef, lrma Dutsch of the Waldhotel Fletschorn in Saas Fee, is available only at that time.

We're planning to extend the circulation of lhe Correspondenf, which is rapidly becoming a very attractive publication in which to advertise. FCC member Gunther Winkelkotter, general manager of Mercedes-Benz China, placed ads for

among us. lt should be a good night for vegetarians and for those who

its new chef, RenatoConfalonieri,who

da Costa, as well as the popular cleric Fa-

ther Lancelot Rodriques to the Club,

focus on vegetarian dishes for that growing band of non-meat eaters

of ltaly, the Trattoria La Veranda is pleased to present

We are lobbying the Government al the same time to have the old Dairy Farm property declared a monument. The building already is officially listed.

We will have the opportunity to talk again directly with our landlord, the Governor Sir David Wilson. Sir David has agreed to speak to the FCC for the final

time in his stewardship. The date

would like to give their digestive systems a rest from meat.

Also being planned for March is an

lrish night. As yet details are still

I' Renato Confalonieri

being worked out and will be circulated when available.

Forthose interested in keeping their bodies in shape the health corner is now up and running, so to speak. The

gym has been fully kitted out with

temoeradu (devilled prawns), kulumas roast (spiced roast chicken), malu cutlis

(fish cutlets), ala badun (spiced potatoes), elu mas curry (lamb curry) and many, many more. lf you feel like a good night out and enjoy hot, spicy food it should be well wofth the price ...only 995 for the evening.

Our next food theme night will be on Tuesday, March 10, and this time we will

some of the latest equioment for the

fitness conscious plus daüna and cold bath. -A massage service is also available by appointment from 1Oam to 4pm.

For reserv,ations, please call Christine/ Floris on 521 151 1 at least 24 hours prior to your preferred booking time.

Sessions last an hour and cost 9280.

Shorter periods can be arranged provided the masseuse is available.

Heinz Grabner

is

Monday, March 23. lt will be our official farewell to Sir David before his departure.

Peter Seidlitz

MEET THE MONEY MAKERS ON February 26 the FCC and Executive magazine will host a special meet¡ng of Hong

Kong's leading fund managers, stock exchange executives

and stock market analysts.

Offshore Banking, F ar East Centre F or information on UK Mortgages and Expatriate Financial Advice Contact Graham Donald

TêL 527 0132 or Fax 865 1046

we also have large reserves set aside for the clubhouse-buying project.

1992

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

1992

3

GUEST SPEAKER

The other side of China he fact that I was able to gain my freedom and be reunited with my family and friends is due mainly to the political situation in China and the changing political arena. The Chinese Communist Party, even though it has always been a highly repressive regime, it now finds itself making certain concessions so as to prolong the regime.

Where repression is great, resistance is also great. The CCP has been trying very hard to promote economic develop-

ment following the June

4

incident

in

1989. lts aim is to try to use the production of more commodities to neutralise the political discontent amongst the Chinese people. So, for those internationally known pro-democracy activists, the CCP treats them with far less brutality than was the case during the Cultural Revolu-

tion.

INIE

RNATIONAL

we're all the

lnternational opinion has somehow made the CCP come to realise that it is becoming more and more isolated. The Chinese authorities know that the situation is bad and so they have to adopt a low profile in order to gain some time to consolidate the regime.

On the other hand, faced with a more aware Chinese population, the CCP has been forced to abandon its high-handed approach to gain some time. Therefore the democracy movement has already borne some fruit. The results are not immediately visible but they have already propelled the society forward.

I served my 10-year prison term and have no remorse. My faith rests on the democracy movement. I believe that the freedom that I enjoy today is also the result of the democracy movement. For this I have to thank all the people who have campaigned for my release all these years.. yourefforls have not been wasted.

On Christmas day, 1981, I decided to go to Guangzhou alone to visit the families of detained democracy activists. At that time, the Chinese democracy movement was at its lowest. All those activists who published unofficial magazines, who fought for freedom of speech and publi-

It was Christmas l98l when Hong Kong citizen Lau Shanching was arrested in Guangzhou and later charged with being a counter revolutionary. Sentenced to l0 years in prison -- 6 tn years in s olilary c onfineme nt Lau w as

- and released last Christmas returned to Hong Kong. Far from being broken by his experience, Lau is today as committed to the MarxistLeninist cause than he ever was.

The following is an edited text of an address he gave to an FCC luncheon on Thursday, January 30.

I stayed in a hotel and was arrested on the first night there. The arrest was done in secret.

For the first seven nights, I was interrogated till dawn. All the questions were about my motivesforgoing to Guangzhou, my contacts, and my relationship with the activists. Because I did not give in, all the interrogators were replaced and I was put into solitary confinement. I was interrogated in isolation forthe next nine months.

From December 1981 to mid-1983, there was a preliminary trial. The preliminary trial system in China is something like a trial in court in Hong Kong, the main purpose being to collect evidence against the arrested. During the preliminary trial

period, I asked for legal aid, but to no avail. I also asked to see my parents and to have some books. But these were all refused me. lt was only after about six months, after numerous requests by me,

that the prosecutor allowed me to buy some books, some dried beef and powdered milk, at my own expense, with the money that I brought from Hong Kong.

The interrogation, the preliminary trial,

and the so-called public trial were all conductĂŞd in secret. I had a lawyer assigned to me but he did not conduct any defence. His duty was to assist the authorities to persuade me to plead guilty in order to ask for lenience, that ÂĄs, to have a shoĂąer prison term. On the day of the

so-called public trial, the jury and the crowd inside the court were people specially selected to attend the proceedings.

cation, had been arrested. My purpose was very simple. I had already been in contact with those activists. Having gone back to China more than a dozen times, I was one of a few who knew the movement . fairly well. I have always main-

tained that the democracy movement has a very important historical meaning and I extended my whole-hearted support. So, when I saw that the movement

was repressed, I decided to visit the family members of the activists to see what could be done to help them.

They all looked lifeless, absent-minded and lacked all the basic conditions for putting on a good show. They made me want to laugh but under those circumstances, one could only feel angry about the whole situation. ln the end, I was charged with "cou nter-revolutionary propaganda" and incitement under Section 90, 102 and 52 of the Criminal Code. I was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and deprived political rights for three years.

I served my 1O-year term until December 26 last year, when I was released from Hwai Zhi prison and came back to

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

1992

Hong Kong the next day. During those 1 0 years, I was kept in captivity in three different places - Wong Hwa from December 1981 to mid 1983, Mei County

Prison from mid-1983 to mid-1988 and Hwai Zhi Prison from mid-1988 to December 1991.

To put it very simply, I spent most of this time in solitary confinement or confined in isolation. Even though there was not much physical torture, the psychological torture was even harsher. lf one's will was not strong enough, it could lead to total collapse.

There were three other activists who shared their prison terms roughly at the same time with mine - Wong Zhi-chi, Ho Kou and Cheng Yau-ng. They all showed signs of deep depression and were hottempered from time to time.

There were two other Hong Kong citizens, Läi Pui-shing and Lee Lung-hing, who were arrested after the June 4 incident, and they also were depressed and their morale was very low. They did not read, did not take exercise, their mental state was very unstable and I feared that they could not cope with the stress. For

me, the most difficult time was when was put into a dark cell. This happened twice. The first time occurred during the first year when I was in the Mei County Prison. All prisoners were required to submit a year-end reporl. I refused to make a statement to the effect that I was I

guilty to my so-called crimes and accepted ideological reform. I was put into a dark cell for 20 days.

The second time occurred in the same I gave the prosecutor's indictment to my parents to bring back to Hong

prison.

on counting the days but things got very

muddled. I tried to paste rice grairis on

the wall to help the counting but once again, there were days when I could not remember whether I had pasted a rice grain on the wall or not.

During the period when I was confined in isolation, there was one prisoner, known as the "labour reform leader," to supervise me. Actually,.his duty was to follow me everywhere, making sure that I could

not communicate with anyone. That "leader" was imprisoned for raping a small girl and so his mental state was not

that of a normal person. Nevertheless, he got his prison term shorlened by one year for his 'special duty".

Under his supervision, I was treated liked a dog. He always shouted at me and

ordered me as he wished. He had more power than the prison wardens. He was released from the control of the work brigade, reporting directly to the highest official in the prison. The supervision by this very special prisoner was really a great harassment. I was in fact toftured psychologically and mentally to the point that my dignity was stripped away. Recently the People's Daily carried a report in which the Minister for Justice, Choi Shing, boasted that the Chinese judiciary respects the dignity of all prisoners. This is a complete lie.

The Chinese prison system is really like hell on ear1h. Human dignity is completely down-trodden. There is not even an iota of human rights and human dignity in the whole system. I think my treatment was not among the worst simply because I am a citizen of Hong Kong and

thatthe campaign movement outside had

The Chinese Communist Party is an oftshoot of Stalinism. China is not a socialist country. What Marx said was

before Liberation that. lt was predestined to move on the road of bureaucratic dictatorship. The unrest and politicalstruggles

after the Liberation merely show Stalinism cannot save China. lt likewise cannot save the Communist Party.

The June 4 massacre really made the CCP crumble on all fronts. Since the people have discarded Stalinism, it is no wonder they have illusions about capitalism. That is why they want capitalism. lt is an historical rebound. At present the Communist Party wants to save itself and

the bureaucrats have to look after their own interests. So they think the capitalist road is the only exit for them. I believe capitalism won't save China and it is not Communist Party's economic reform policy is to gradually change state properties into collective properties and even private properties. They are now selling state enterprises and factories to individuals and corporations. This is basically an equal exchange, wealth has not really been transferred tothe private sector.

AccordinĂž to Marx's law of value, Chinese capital will go abroad sooner or later and this will exert great pressure on the Chinese economy. At the end of the day, China will embark on the same road as the former USSR ĂĄnd Eastern Europe.

China will face a prolonged period of chaos.

made my name known internationally.

At present the Chinese democracy movement is still in its infancy. The aim of

Asto China, myviews have notchanged, am a Marxist-Leninist. ln the past, when I was engaged in political activities, I was more of an activist than a theorist. I am

name welcomed at more than 9 million outlets worldwide.

the future for China. At present the

So they were much more careful when dealing with me. Likewise, the more well

I

st MasteCard issuer.

low and the whole country was poor

Kong. This made the prison wardens

were as lucky as me.

I

true; socialism should grow out of a developed capitalist country. The Chinese economy is backward, its productivity is

very furious. I was put into a dark cell for one month.

It was only because I was being transferred to Hwai Zi Prison that my days in the dark cell came to an end.

When I was in the dark cell, I was chained at the feet. There was nothing to do, nothing to read. At times, nobody came for 24 hours on end. The dark cell is a single storey building with a small hole in the ceiling used by the wardens to keep an eye on the prisoner. The light through the hole let me differentiate between day and night. But it was very difficult to keep track of the days. I kept

knowndemocracy activists were not physically tortured. However, it is very difficult to say whether the lesser known ones

The name of the world's

most impofiant name of all,

the movement can only be the fight for and development of general democratic rights.

The same applies in Hong Kong. I find Hong Kong has made great progress politically. Many people are now concerned with politics, realising that Hong Kong's political future is really inseparable from China'-s political future.

afraid I am still a radical democrat. But

Hong Kong, at present, still has its

during my imprisonment, I had the opportunity to read a number of Marxist-Leninist classics, like Das Kapital.

freedoms and this should provide good

WE'VE PUT THREE BIG NAMES ON OI.{E SMALL CARD. CITIBANK MASTERCARD. Pick up an application form today 0r call our 24-hour hotline: 8661123.

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Not Just MasterCard.

6

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

1992

Citibank MasterCard.

NEV/S AND VIEWS

Understanding Macau acau Week at the FCC, (Janu-

ary 24-31) proved to be

Dr Costa were special guests at a buffet dinner featuring a selection of Macanese and Portuguese foods and wines. Through-

an

enormous success both forthe Club and the Government of Macau.

As Macau's Secretary for Communica-

tion, Tourism and Culture, Dr Antonio Salavessa Da Costa, pointed out: "When we embarked on this venture with the FCC we wanted to present something of the unique flavour that is Macau today its culture, history and social structure. ln that, I believe we succeeded."

The week began with a cocktail parly and buffet dinner hosted by the Macau Government on Wednesday, January 22.

This was followed two days later by a

luncheon address by one of Macau's leading businessmen and political figures, Dr Edmundo Ho, who spoke on the politicial developments in Macau in the run up to 1999. (An edited extract of his speech appears in this issue.)

The following Wednesday the president of the Portuguese lnstitute and member of the Macau legislature, Dr Anabela Ritchie, addressed a Club luncheon where she spoke on the Porluguese presence in Macau.

Photographs by David Thurston

out the evening music was provided by the Folkloric Group of the Macau Club.

Mr Macau Stanley Ho

On Friday, January 31, the director of Macau's economic deparlment, Dr Gabriela Cesar, the president of the civil avia-

tion department, Jorge Guimaraes, and the director of the government tourist office, CostaAntunes, addressed a luncheon in which they outlined Macau's economic growth and its major infrastructu-

ral developments including the new airport project.

Later that evening the man popularly

Dr Ho gave a brief address in which he called for closer ties between Hong Kong and Macau.

He said Macau was well on its way to becoming one of the major gateways into southern China.

He pointed out that the historical relationship between Hong Kong and Macau should not be forgotten. "After all,"he said, "Macau was the midwife of modern

Hong Kong back in the mid 1800s." He said Hong Kong and Macau should face the future as "face to face" partners and not "back to back" as has been the practice in the past.

Asked whether he will retire before 1999, Dr Ho said:"What makes you think I intend to retire. As far as I am concerned everything remains the same until the year 2001 when our gambling licence runs out in Macau".

CRYOVAC

known as Mr Macau, Dr Stanley Ho, and

Macau comes to the FCC.....

Packaging/!larketinß l-or

a conrplele range

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qualitr shrink packaging rìillerixls and l¡r¡chinerr. lirr frrsh food and displa.r prod ucts.

8

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1992

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Conlilct: ('rror:lc Produrt Line

R, (iracc (Hr)ng K{)trgt l-td 11 ilson House I 9-27 \4 r ndh¿nr Strect

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THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

1992

9

Politics based on consensus he socio-political system of Macau

is based on the principle of consensus. The principle of political consensus not only refers to domestic politics but also to Macau's rather unique international status as a "Chinese territory under temporary Portuguese ad-

ministration."

Macau has never been a colony in the real meaning of the word, when compared with Fortugal's colonial possessions in Africa and other parts of the world.

Consequently, when Portugal gave up its colonial empire after the revolution in Lisbon in April 1974, Macau was not

directly affected because a territory that never was a colony could not undergo decolonisation in the same way as Porlugal's colonial possessions elsewhere.

Lisbon's policy of decolonisation in the aftermath of the 1974 revolution called for a concerted definition of the political status of Macau because until then the enclave's status as a Chinese territory under Pofiuguese administration had never been formally agreed upon by the two countries. On February 8, 1979, the two countries signed a joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations

between the PRC and the Poltuguese Republic. The communique also referred to the principle of "mutual respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity" oi the two contracting parties, thereby implying the recognition of China's sovereignty over Macau.

Macau's historically proven formula of being a Chinese territory under Portu-

guese administration was formally recognised when Beijing and Lisbon signed the Joint Declaration on the question of

Macau in March 1987.

According to the text of the 1987 Joint

A member of China's National People's Congress, Dr Edmundo Ho, is one of Macau's leading businessmen and political figures. He was guest speaker at the FCC on Friday, January 24,where he spoke on the political developments in the Portuguese enclave in the run up to 1999 when Macau reverts back to Chinese rule. The following is an edited extract from his address.

undersecretaries are under the direct superintendence of the President who is the only political body in Portugalto which

the Macau administration is answerable in political terms. The Porluguese government does not hold formal political decision-making powers over the administration of the enclave. This close linkage of the Macau government to the Portu-

guese Presidency, and the clear-cut separation of the governments of Macau and Lisbon from each other, is meant to

be a constitutional precaution aimed at keeping the enclave out of crisis and changes of government in Poriugal and away from Lisbon's political party politics.

So far, Macau's so-called "presidential

opment, Portugal's post-revolutionary democratic Constitution of 1976 laid down that the "territory of Macau, under Portu-

system" has worked well and proved to be a stabilising factor in Macau's sociopolitical development.

guese administration, is governed by a statute appropriate to its special situ-

Regarding its legislature, Macau clearly has a democratic edge-over Hong Kong.

ation." Consequentially, in February 1976 Macau was granted a highly autonomous mini-constitution by the Portuguese government, under the heading of 'Organic Statute of Macau.' This Statue underwent a major revision in 1990 and will be valid until December 20, 1999 when it will be replaced by the Basic Law of Macau that is currently in its final drafting stage.

The Statute enjoys the rank of a constitutional law. Thereby, Macau's miniconstitution is enshrined in the constitutional framework of Portugal. This means that Macau enjoys constitutional protection by Lisbon until the change-over to

Since 1976, 35% of the deputies to the Legislative Assembly have been directly elected by universal suffrage. The number of legislators was increased Írom 17 to 23 in 1990's revision of the Macau Organic SÏatute, but the proportion of directly, indirectly and appointed legislators has remained the same.

China in 1999.

Among the main features of the Macau Organic Statute is what has been termed the enclave's "Presidential system." The

Macau governor depends solely and

The Legislative Assembly has

23

members of whom eight are directly elected

(35%) by universal suffrage, eight are indirectly elected (35%) by functional constituencies, and the remaining seven are appointed by the governor (30%).

The legíslature has a four-year term divided into four annual sessions.

Direct elections in Macau are open to any legally registered resident over the age of 18, while the age of 21 is the requirement to be elected into the Legislative Assembly. The right to vote and to be elected is independent.of nationality and place of birth.

land, is Chinese territory, and that the

exclusively on the Portuguese President in political terms, by whom he is appointed and exonerated, after a mandatory public consultation among represenlatives of the Macau people. The highly respected institution of the Portuguese

Government of the PRC will resume the exercise of sovereignty with effect from December 20, 1999. ln a related devel-

President constitutes the vital link between Macau and Portugal. The governor of Macau and his cabinet of seven

creased to seven years by 1995.

Among the major exclusive legislative powers of the Assembly are the authori-

Declaration, China and Portugal "declare

that the Macau area, including Macau Peninsula, Taipa island and Coloane is-

Presently, the required years of residency in Macau in order to be able to vote

is only four years, but this is to be

in-

sation of the governor's yearly budget and the approval of the salaries of the

clave's administration will be handed to

civil service. Neither the governor nor his seven undersecrelaries can be members of the Legislative Assembly, but they can attend the legislative sessions without being entitled to vote.

The governor has, however, his own advisory body or Privy Council under the name of Consultative Council, which has 10 members and the governor himself as

mous system. One can say that it will be the first time in the history of Macau as a separate territory that the local population will take their political destiny in their own hands.

chairman.The Consultative Council's 10 members are half elected, and half appointed bythe governor. Of thefiveelected,

two are elected by the enclave's two urban councils while the other three are indirectly elected among functional constituencies. The Consultative Council's main function is to advise the governor on all his major policy decisions and legislative acts through non-binding votes.

The consultative councillors meet once a week behind closed doors. The Council's main aim is to advise the administration on the opinions and feelings that local pressure groups and associations may have on future policy decisions and legislative acts. The Consultative Council's

importance lies

in making sure that

a

viable consensus be maintained between government and society.

The open-door Legislative Assembly and the closed-door Consultative Council constitute two vital bodies of the enclave's political system, both contributing in their way to the maintenance of social progress through policy decisions based on consensus among the different sectors of society.

As a result there exists a well-defined system of checks and balances in the enclave's political system: the governor holding executive and some legislative powers, being assisted by a Cabinet of seven under-secretaries that all have equal ranking and by his 1O-member Consultative Council, while the 23-member Legislative Assembly has wide-ranging legislative and budget auditing powers.

So what does the future hold for Macau as a Special Administrative Region of China after December 20, 1999?

AtIer 442 years under Portuguese administration, China will resume the exercise of sovereignty while the en-

its inhabitants under a highly autono-

Macau will be governed by a chief executive, who must be Chinese of at least 40 years of age, and resident in Macau for at least 20 years.

The future chief executive will be elected

by a 30O-strong electoral college, out of which 180 will belong to the industrial, commercial, financial and professional sectors, 80 will be representatives of labour, social services and religion, while the remaining 40 will be representatives

of the Macau Legislative Assembly, Macau's deputies to the National People's Congress in Beijing, and representatives

of the National Political Consultative Conference of the Chinese People.

The chief executive will be elected to a

five-year term and be appointed by the central government in China based on the election results

while the other 29 are mainlanders or Chinese officials posted to the enclavb.

The final pre-draft of the Basic Law was passed by the Drafting Commiltee at a

plenary meeting in Beijing in July last year. Since then it has undergone extensive public scrutiny. There have been many suggestions for changes. For example the pre-draft Basic Law stipulated a 20% limit on the number of non-Chinese deputies in the future SAR legislature. This has since been dropped.

After more than four centuries of existence as a Chinese territory under Portuguese administration Macau will, at the turn of the century, face, a new SO-year era as a Special Administrative Region that will be a constitutional parl of the Chinese state. Having lived for over 400 years under Portuguese rule, the enclave's inhabitant's major challenge will be to prove to China and the rest of the world that they will be able to run their own political destiny, hopefully, as in the many years before, under the well-proven

principle of consensus.

in Macau.The pres-

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10 THE CORRESPONDENT

FEBRUARY 1992

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY

1992

1l

COMMENT

The Parable of the Box nd in the beginning there was space, where men could rest their bodies and seek sustenance away from the madding crowd. Even doze... And they did add to this oasis of plenty, laying down tables and chairs, even a video screen and sound. And it was good... at least ample.

But there came others, from Aryan lands, not content to leave well alone. Who did scheme to erect a temple in burnished oak and frosted glass to an ancient goddess of scriptures about whom most of the common crowd knew little, except that she was austere and of intemperate and unpredictable nature, and about whom they cared possibly

even less.

There was much argument abroad, for the Aryans did seek to coerce others in yet further extravagant schemes in the name of progress when only a lick and a polish was truly needed. Only by one extraordinary feat of rebellion from the common herd did it come to pass that this quaint concept, or at least the major part of it, be abandoned and that a half-hearted, botched-up, cockeyed compromise be settled uPon. And so it came to pass that an edifice of indeterminate characteristics was raised in the midst of the heaving masses. At first, it assumed a white shapeless form, which scared the common crowd. There was much scorn and

friction, nay fractiousness, among many thought to be friends. Grown men were seen to gnash their teeth, inscribe unseemly remarks upon the embryonic edifice and generally fall about, for they were afraid of the unknown. The elders preached patience and after great duration, not to say much hammering, the mystery of the white box was revealed. And lo, it was a brown box, with tables and chairs. A veritable refuge of unprecedented luxury where men could seek sustenance and solitude from the madding crowd.

The ancient and austere goddess of intemperate nature was duly consulted on the relevance or otherwise of the structure, and she did frown, blink furiously and say something to the effect that a darkness did pervade as in the Grand Temple itself. And lo, the common folk were heard to observe with certain irony, "She doesn't even like the bloody thing."

Nevertheless and all others notwithstanding, what had become known variously as the goldfish bowl, the creche, The Room and the memorial to she of the intemperate and unpredictable nature, did continue to stand and men did use it irregardless. Yet others were led to reflect that there's precious little that's new.

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The health corner will be open between 7.30am and 9pm.

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Scum and liars ne of the revelations that came out of the Watergate investigations was that President Nixon and his White House staff kept a hate list of journalists they detested.

There was subsequently much competition to get on the list. lt was a mark of

honour,

a

distinction that recognised

reporters were doing their jobs and causing massive discomfort to the crew in the Oval Office.

Similarly, Beijing keeps tabs on Hong Kong-based newsmen and tracks what they write.

Some reporters based in the Territory

have been labelled "scum and liars" by an apologist for the Beijing government.

To be among those so described places a newspaperman in distinguished com-

By Kevin Sinclair fences in Hong Kong will be tried here.

These solemn agreements signed by China and which the Beijing government has repeatedly vowed to honour seem to mean little to the outraged Mr He.

China (and Taiwan, come to that) regards all ethnic Chinese everywhere as being Chinese citizens and therefore answerable to Chinese law.

Were these the people Mr He wanted to see dragged across the border to face the People's Courts? What about Chinese with American passporls? Would they, too, find themselves in the dock in Guangdong if Mr He had his way?

Beijing, attended college in Heilongjiang and then the CASS lnstitute of Journalism, according to my sources.

He is employed as a researcher at the CASS Literature lnstitute. After the Tiananmen Square crackdown in June, 1989, Mr He defended the military action in print and on Chinese television. That's

his right, of course.

ln 1990, he was in the headlines in Japan after he wrote an afticle based on an "interview" he had with ProfessorYabuki

of Yokohama University. The respected

Japanese academic complained the published result of this interview was "f

ictitious."

He Xin's more recent efforts include his

"scum and liars" description of some Hong Kong pressmen. Just whom he

Alas, the identity of the journalists concerned is unknown. The fellow who branded them will not answer faxed

How about foreign correspondents based in Hong Kong? What would happen to them if, for example, a story written by a French journalist and published in Paris aroused Beijing's dìspleasure?

questions seeking their identity.

Would expatriate journalists based in Hong

men are the object of the researcher-

This is a pity because I thought it would be a capital idea to get them all together and form a Hong Kong Scum and Liars Society. We could all sit about, drink Qingdao beer and tell the truth; it is the latter which is apparently causing concern up north.

Newspapermen are accustomed to abuse. lt comes with the job. But when reporters are lambasted by someone who has pretentions of himself being a scribe, it's a little hard to take.

That's my résponse to the tirade by Mr He Xin. Mr He has branded some Hong Kong reporters as being "scum and liars" because of their stories about China.

Following this, I faxed the forthright Mr He at his bureau asking him to clarify his statement. Who did he mean? What had they written that caused this outburst?

Mr He had also said that those guilty of libelling China should be promptly extradited across the border and charged under Chinese law. This, of course, is a gross affront to the terms of both the Joint Declaration signed by Britain and China guaranteeing certain freedoms post-1997 and directly contravenes the Basic Law which says Hong Kong people who commit of-

Kong also find themselves facing the

academic's ire.

public prosecutors?

Seidlitz, a close observer of Beijing affairs in his role as correspondent for many German newspapers, describes

pany.

Well, Mr He did not see f it to answer my queries so I did a little homework with sources not far from the Forbidden City to see what I could find out about this loquacious fellow.

Mr He Xin, it seems, was born with the socialist equivalent of a silver chopstick in his mouth.

His parents were both state-employed intellectuals, his father described sometimes as a "journalist" working for the China Academy of Social Services (CASS).

That's where He Xin found himself a snug berth, employed officially as a

"researcher" but who sometimes bursting into print in the Academy's publication

Chinese Social Science and other quasi-

academic volumes. (lt's ironic that in the so-called classless society, peasants no longer inherit their fields although the offspring of wellplaced parly hacks seem invariably to have secure, high-prestige jobs handed down from their fathers.)

He Xin is not one of the geriatrics at the

helm of government, party and military power. He is a youthful 43-year-old born in Zhejiang Province, who grew up in

includes on his honour role is unclear.

FCC President Peter Seidlitz is

no

stranger to Mr He's writings.

But he too is unaware of which news-

He Xin as a well-known extremist. "l don't think we have to take his views very seriously," Seidlitz said, "Judging from'his writing, he's not the sort of person you'd want to have lunch with."

This is a view shared by the respected chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists' Association, Daisy Li, who seems more amused than distraught by He Xin's outrage.

"Mr He is free to take action under Hong Kong law if he considers reporters are writing libellous stories," Li says. He can sue. "lt's impoftant to remind Mr He of the

one country, two systems prihciple," Ms Li added, "That's enshrined in both the Declaration and the Joint Basic law. Offences committed in Hong Kong should be tried in Hong Kong under Hong Kong law.

"Mr He is free to say what he likes. I don't think Hong Kong reporters will sue him for libel.

"After all, we treasure the freedom of speech.

"

THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1992

13

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COVER STORY

A moment in history f

you should see a pack of aggres-

sively competitive photographers pushing, shoving and bellowing at the gates of an embassy or a presidential palace don't expect to see Liu Heungshing, the Hong Kong-born chief of the AP photo bureau in Moscow, pressed up against the bars.

Liu, who spoke at an FCC lunch in early January during a brief visit to his home

By Simon Twiston Davies That is certainly very much the impres-

sion given after leafing through Liu's recently published documentation of the last two years of the disintegration of the

corded enough press conferences, enough

USSR. ln each of the photographs printed in "USSR: The Collapse of an Empire", there is at least one element of humanity, one spark that tells of suffering or joy or

bombs exploding, enough car smashes

desperation.

town, reckons the world has directly re-

and train crashes. That kind of spot photography, he believes, can be safely left in the hands of the guys who almost strangle themselves with a dozen lenses and tripods and filters as they shoot the world head on.

and the collapse of the Soviet empire it might be easy to take Liu for granted. lndeed, if you want to catch a glimpse

under the direction of the famed Life magazine photographer Gjon Mili.

At that time there was a group of the great photographers of the age living in New York and, besides Mili, the likes of

ofthe 4O-year photographer at work during a great event, look to one side of the action and he will most probably be there, taking in, not the show itself, but what effect it has on those who are in the path of the juggernaut.

Eisensfadt, Dmitri Casson and the agent

for Cartier Bresson would drop by and

Self-effacing in his movements, softly

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However, Liu admits thatwhile he doesn't

often find himself pressing at the gates he is, nonetheless, intensely competitive

and has spent as long as seven hours trying to transmit a particularly dramatic shot back to AP headquarters in New York - "Above all, getting the pictures back first is my job" -but he also sees himself as more than just a recording angel.

For the moment Liu is satisfied with the

freedom of the press to operate in the new Russia, saying there is virtually no harassment in the streets and there is very little obstructionism. "lt really has changed."

with the communists in the early years of the revolution -- he attended New York University where he took an elected course

Afghanistan, the carnage at Tiananmen

spoken and easy with a smile, he has the bearing of an artist rather than a hot-shot snap-shooter. With an over-large, greying head, narrow shoulders and a narrow waist, Liu has none of the dramatic swagger that some of his colleagues have picked up from watching too many movies about derring-do in wartime and wild places.

-

Liu's start in photography came almost

Outside the cauldron of events such as

,ç

almost boundtofail. "The next nine months

are absolutely crucial for Boris Yeltsin and could be disastrous."

as an accident. After being educated in Hong Kong and Fujian province, -- his family were landlord-class intellectuals who maintained a tolerable relationship

the death of Mao, riots in Seoul, the war in

like Gorbachev in China". lt is going to take something quite different lo change things in the Middle Kingdom.

For now, Liu is convinced the Commonwealth of lndependent States that makes up the rump of the old USSR is

"While the issues and events fascinate

me," says Liu, "it is very important to reflect what happens to the people as well as to the politicians and business leaders." Clearly Liu sees himself as an E.P Thompson of photographic history rather than a Gibbon recording a decline and fall.

Although Liu published a record of "China After Mao" in 1983 and was in Beijing for

the terrible days of June 1989 he is careful to make it clear he thinks there are few parallels between China and the Soviet Union of 1992. "The USSR is an industrialised country and China is still, at base, a rural society. And there has been no softening of the ground by someone

talk to the NYU students. "lt was an amazing time when these guys would drop by with their little blackand white prints and talk with us about how they created them," says Liu. A year later he had been taken on the staff of Life magazine under an internship programme and his path from Life to Time, and eventually to AP in 1980 was set.

However, in the early days the young Liu didn't spend much time worrying'about the nuts and bolts of photography and learnt little about the technical aspects of cameras. "We spent most of the time talking about the way you see things," he says, and even to today he is slightly dismissive of photo-technology that fascinates so many of his colleagues. "Even now I challenge myself to take as little equipment with me on an assignment as

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1992

The collapse of an empire.

Photographs by Liu Heung-shing

I il Li

l d

Mikhail Gorbachev...yesterday's Boris Yeltsin saw the opportunity and took

it

possible. At most I try to take three lenses; much more and you are too busy changing lenses to get your shot."

Liu's year at Life magazine was extraordinarily rewarding, he says. "l spent so much time going through the contact

So long comrade

sheets of people like Capa and CarlierBresson. To see the final product is always wonderful but seeing the way those guys worked was another thing. ln the end I came away with the distinct view that you must be a concerned photographer. You must become involved."

To shoot great pictures with authority, says Liu, " you have to live in a place for

a substantial period of time; build up relationships; watch the seasons and do

it the old fashioned way and make the leisure time to think. The rationale of leisure is to leave you ready to be inspired. Whatever your technology is, that can't really be replaced.

"Even in the two years I have spent in the USSR, when I have never worked so hard, I have tried as much as possible to make friends, attend Russian theatre in private houses, go to dachas in the country and walk to the market and watch how

I I j

people are doing business. Unless you feel the texture of a society, you can't get

far into it."

How the other half lived The people's will prevails

16 THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1992

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1992

Learning from the East y being a hub, we are able to enjoy a standard of living higher

than what we othen¡¡ise deserve. Because Singapore is at a major crossroad of the world, Singaporeans enjoy a higher standard of living by living here. This is why being an efficient hub is at the heart of our eco-

nomic strategy. So when

I say

our

policy is to encouragethe foreign media to operate here, ldo not mean it lightly.

We do have rules. But they should not affect your ability to operate professionally. What we want foreign journalists to do is to refrain from interference in the do-

mestic political process. I noticed that the Leader of

the Opposition,

selÊdefeating for us. But integrity must include the right of reply when our honour is impugned. Let me cite the example of the Asian Wall Street Journal to illustrate my point.

As you know, the newspaper re-applied to come back in recently. We had frank discussions. The Journal knows the rules.

On that basis, it is circulating here again.

We were not out to score points or to humiliate anybody.

What we are asking for is objective report-

ing and, if we disagree with the points you make, the right of reply. On that basis, I see

time after the Meij¡ Restoration to learn everything it could from the West. The Japanese example in turn had a profound influence on the course of the republican revolution in China. Today, learning from the West is part of the culture of the East, Liuxue in Chinese or ryugaku in Japanese, meaning to leave home to study abroad, is generally considered a beneficial experience. ln the East today, you are only an educated man if you have learnt from the West.

But the reverse does not hold true.

There is still no widespread acceptance

in the West that before you can be

The relationship between Singapore and the foreign press has never been an easy one. At times it has resulted in lengthy legal battles and publications being banned. Here George Yeo, Singapore's Minister for Information and the Arts puts his government's case in a speech delivered to the Foreign Press Association in Singapore recently.

Chiam See Tong, made the same point in his recent address to you. We have local sensi-

tivities which we require you

to

re-

spect. Whether you work as a foreign journalist in Bangkok or Tokyo, Cairo or London, there are certain areas which you tread lightly on, for example, comments on royalty and religion. We have no royalty in Singapore but we do worry a lot about religion, race and lan-

guage. These are deep faultlines in our social structure and if we are not careful, our society can break up. When Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses was published, we knew right away that it had to be banned. I do not think till today many Westerners quite under-

stand what the whole hubbub was about.

lf you do not operate in Singapore, then you can of course do what you like and we have no right to tell you what not to do. But if you operate here, and especially if your newspaper circulates here, we do expect integrity

and detachment. I assure you that if you act with integrity and detachment, you willfind us helpful and couñeous.

I am not suggesting for one moment that you must become admirers or apologists of Singapore. That will be

considered fully educated you must also learn from the

East, And therein lies the danger for

the West and for

the world. ln

the relationship between the Singapore Government and the foreign press improving. You might have misunderstood us in the past. I do not think you do now.

Let me now move on to a larger subject, the encounter between Eastern and Western societies, and the role you can play to help bring about a better future for all of us.

With the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and the emergence of new democracies in the Third World, there is a growing sense in the West that Western Values have triumphed -everywhere and forever. All countries seem now to be subject to the test of Western values and are to be judged accordingly. Wittingly and unwittingly, Western journalists are a large part of this phenomenon. I would like

to suggest to you that not only is such a point of view arrogant it is also dangerous.

Manchu China had that kind of a cultural arrogance. After Lord Macartney negotiated a one-knee bow instead of a kowtow before the Qian Long Emperor, he was sent back to England with an edict from the Emperor to George lll reminding the English King that China had everything and needed nothing from the West.

For that cultural arrogance, China paid a heavy price. Japan in contrast wasted no

18 THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1992

a superficial sense, there is some learning from the East like

the interest in Japanese management techniques, but little more than that. lf this attitude does not change, Eastern societies will overtake Western societies and the resentment that is engendered in the West will be politically destabilizing. lf America does not put right her education and her economy, there will be trouble for the whole world. The structure of peace in Europe and Asia will be upset.

When I visited the Juilliard School in New York city recently, I was told that 75/" o'1 the freshmen are of Asian origin, counting Americans and non-Americans.

I was amazed. A professor told me that at this rate the Western tradition of music will have to be maintained by Asians and Jews in the next century.

Age for age, students in East Asia outperform students in America in science and mathematics. What is happening? ls it alljust a problem of methods and

techniques?

I fear the problem is much deeper. I fear the problem is in aspects of the Western value system which break up the family, elevates the individual above everything else, carrying the rule of law to illogical limits and reducing all relation-

ships to that of the contract. There is a lot of good in the western value system but some elements in it have gone out of balance.

I hope the West will have the cultural humility to learn from the East. Let me quote Joseph Needham in an essay he wrote in 1955 on "the dialogue of East and West":

" Many people in Western Europe and European America suffer from what may be called spiritual pride. They are firmly convinced that their own form of civilisation is the only universal form. ln deep ignorance of the intellectual and social conceptions and traditions of other peoples, they think it quite natural to impose upon them their own ideas and customary practices, whether of law, of democratic society, or of political institutions."

Needham went on: " An outstanding instance of European spiritual pride concerns law and jurisprudence. .. Roman law has been praised for centuries. The Code of Justinian is .. regarded as a great monument of European culture, and Anglo-Saxons are proud of their structure of case-law and precedent accumulated over the

STOP

LOOKING!

centuries.

"Yet the Chinese had had an immense and remarkable legal tradition, and it was based on principles quite different from those which prevailed in Europe. While the West has a penchant for legal fictions, Asians are less deceived by professional sophistry. There was throughout Chinese history a resistance to codification, a determination to judge every case on its own

merits, a passion for compromise and harmony." . . .

Please do not misunderstand me. I am not arguing for one moment that East is all good and West is all bad. Without the leavening influence of the West, not just in science and technology but also in politics and philosophy, there could not have been this remarkable Eastern transformation. lndeed, for the East it has been a wrenching process over decades because all

the old habits and instincts have to be re-evaluated.

For the West, learning from the East will be equally wrenching

and prolonged because value systems, of all human systems, are the most resistant to change. lt is a mistake to think that the only big issue in the world today is that between democracy and

totalitarianism, and that once that is resolved all will be well.

Because of technology, all societies will have to become broadly

democratic when they modernise but the differences between democratic systems will become so great, they should more properly be considered differences of kind rather than differences of degree. Japanese democracy is not the same as American democracy. Pan-European democracy will again be different. All will be in competition. As'the dialecticians remind us: thesis, anti-thesis, synthesis, then new thesis and new antithesis. One divides into two, endlessly, As Asian societies advance economically, they will become more assertive culturally. lt is not only Japan that can say no.

Others will too, increasingly. I hope Western journalists will not disregard such feelings but will instead report on them in a thoughtful way to readers back home, A monologue by the West is not good for the West. We need a dialogue. ln our small house in Singapore, the dialogue of East and West among Singaporeans can sometimes get very heated. As foreign journalists, you are our honoured guests and you should not intedere or take sides. But I hope you will benefit from your experience here and draw whatever lessons you may find useful for your own society.

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Here be celestial beings he Hard Yak Cafe? A Yak burger in Yakdonald's? The Spice Guru

from Kathmandu? Were these the things that so tempted us? Was

it

Spiritual Enlightenment or perhaps a look at life under a foreign socialist regime?

Whatever it was we bought it and this team of FCC consultants set forth upon a date with destiny on the roof of the world.

Tibet, fabled Shangri-la or just plain old Holiday lnn?

Told to report at Kai Tak airport at 10:00 hours sharp on Tuesday 3 December, an irritable and disgruntled team of six assemble at the Drag-OnAir check-in counter to discover the leader of the tour

group, to which we were

Bill "Barkhor" Barker

was among a group of FCC members who ventured to Tibet last December to witness the first ever crowning of Miss Tibet.

Here he chronicles his journey to the roof of the world.

Photographs by Døvid Gørcía

It's four in the morning on our second day and we depart for the airport at 0500 hours for the flight to Lhasa. We creep in

darkness through vegetables. This was CAAC or now China South West Airlines.

There is a choice of two entrances to the

airport, we are shown the wrong one.

There is a choice of three aircraft on the

tarmac, all ancient 707's, we have to choose which is ours. China South West leaves on time! Deparlure is scheduled for 0700 hours. We take off at 0700

hours. There are still people looking for seats. There are not enough

4

seats. This is mountain hopping, jagged snow

'lù +.

DRUA'KEN CELE ST I AL BE I NCS

RE

STAURÀNT

loosely assigned had failed

to show on time. A brief discussion ensues whereupon a decision is made to take control of our own destiny. We check in, we have ourfirst power breakfast. Bloody-marys, one every five minutes... each.

Not for the first time we are off the tour, realising that perhaps the whole trip is a ruse to clear the club of dissenters during conversion of the main bar into a bratwurst stand.

Too late, Chengdu, Sichuan, China's mid-west.

Lhasa begins. Three bounces, a jack-knife and we are down. lt is cold. lt is freezing. lt is a 500-metre Íreeze.

Our first reception! Col fee and Danish buns at the

terminal... outside. We 'treezel We are told to resfl We rest. One hour later we board our buses, two hours to Lhasa Holiday lnn, and our second reception! The entire staff of the hotel are introduced to us one by one in English... then ltalian... then French. Our German beauty consultantq are not

amused. We are not amused. We are tired, we are emotional, it is time to

here. A lot of vegetables.

Even the hedgerows are

edible. There is a pub in the centre of Chengdu

rest.

Daythree dawns, blue sky, brown valley, grey barracks.

called The Pub, liberally stocked with local univer-

Communists love concrete, preferably unfinished. They have effectively unfinished Lhasa. Altitude sickness affects us all in different ways.

One of our consultants takes

sity students where the team warms to some preliminary spiritual enlightenment and some enlightened conversation with the locals. lt seems joint ventures between private enterprise and government

to

walk to the terminal. We

They grow vegetables

Above: Club members outside..well the name savs it all.

Below: The FCC team

are alive and well in Chengdu.

20 THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY I992

Tibetan pilgrims

capped peaks, rightand left.

The Himalayas. Ourdescent

to his bed and

remainsthere

for the whole trip. Others have attacks of attitude sick-

ness and are.heard being

polite to the strangest of

Miss Tibet people. Most fought manfully through it by breathing deeply, moving slowly and drinking at least the minimum requirement of four to five litres of liquid per day.

The Barkhor Bazaar circumnavigating the Johkhan Temple is the first official visit. Lhasa is teeming with nomads and pilgrims at this time of year. lt is the only two weeks of the year they have access to the Potala Palace. Visitors have access 52 weeks of the year. The faces of Tibet fly clockwise around the temple.

With the influx of pilgrims the population of Lhasa grows from 120,000 in summer to 350,000 in the winter. Another source put the population at 500,000 in the win-

ter but this figure incorporates about 200,000 visiting Neighbours. The Neighbours are from next door; they are not Tibetan, they are Chinese. They are uninvited and have built their own Neighbourhoods from the rubble of those they have destroyed. They have Neighbour-

hood watch groups. They watch us eat.

They get upset if we do not eat on schedule. lt is easy to get the impression the Neighbours are here to stay. That night we expectantly crowd into the "TinTin" bar to hear Honey Chang sing sultry

Tibetan mood music only to discover "she" is a drink brewed from fermented barley and yeast. lt should be served hot.

More monasteries and temples. The friendlies smile and giggle but will not talk. The air of suppression is suffocat-

ing, but the fourth day yields the discov-

ery of the tour. The Drunken Celestial Beings Restaurant. Nirvana, Base Camp,

GHQ, Spiritual Enlightenment, Oohm Shanti Oohm ! The culmination of the tour is the on-off-on again Miss Tibet pageant, more quaintly labeled by the Neighbours, a Fashion Parade Evaluation. The pageant is indeed preceded by a fashion show where the People's Public Security Bureau get to show off some of the latest Japanese camera hardware in our faces, full frontal... and sideview... and topview... and rearview!

And so begins our journey home, the team drawing closer together in a hostile environmentthough some of us are hailed as heroes. We are bussed back to Lhasa

airporl at 0730 hours to find one pLA regiment leaving, another arriving, glori-

ous battle hymns of the Republic re-

David Thurston and Mary O'malley (right) wonder what it's all about.

Note Thurston's pants, with knees

almost worn through from groveling

sounding off the hillsides all morning. We

wait, rumours abound, no flights today, no flights tomorrow, no flights ever. At 1500 hours we board our aircraft. The worst is over, the next leg was Drag-OnAir from Chengdu. They will wait for us...

won't they... won't they? Nol Another night in Chengdu. Again rumours abound flights tomorrow, no flights this winterl -Butnogood news prevails. The Neighbours want us to leave and we provide them with happy video profiles of the team as we leave for Hong Kong, home and bratwurst.

Stefan Reisher Meditating

THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1992 2I

TTIE INNER CIRCLE

Close Encounters of the Exotic lndian

Kind

The Ashoka '-l-he lìestau¡¡nt A Iìoyal gorrrnrct tlelìtc ah,aits y(,rì, h,ith V.llct l)arking Servicc p rn 10:00 p nr )

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Street are still wondering why.

The Governor Sir David Wilson who accepted membership when he addressed the Club last year, will be leaving sometime later this one. Even the vagueness of his going is in keeping with the shuffling, calculated inexactitude, the miserly, 'economy with the truth' and the

adolescent obsessions with'hush-hush' which characterise the manner of men who handle this Government from London.

ln the days of Maclehose, a no

A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY

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personal fief, the men in London would be lucky if they even saw the draft of the annual report to Parliament the day before it was due to be delivered. Since the Joint Agreement, the bloated importance of the Beijing embassy and the totally unaccountable beaverings of the Joint Liaison Group, the men from London are all over the place likes ants over a bellyup cockroach.

The arid, disinformational condescension the Foreign Office has treated the Territory to over the departure of Sir David has all the instinctive appeal of 'hunt the thimble' which Nanny will have instilled into Foreign Office men way back in the Nursery. As we searched harder and harder to find the hidden resignation and as we got warmer and warmer we were told lhat Whitehall had 'total confidence' in the Governor to make us go cold again. The visiting Prime Minister even found himself saying that where the governorship was concerned there was 'no vacancy', which sent us bouncing and bubbling off quite in the wrong direction.

'Fooled you!'Within weeks Wilson was going but Nanny had started a new game, We had to guess when he was going and

we had to guess who was coming instead.

F.C.C. members represent one of the highest earning, per-capita, consumer spending groups in Hong Kong.

INNER CIRCLE: HK$600 (Minimum 6 insertions) Colour ads: ll4 page HK$1,584;112 page HK$3,168; Full page HK$5,280.

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Telephone: Ingrid Gregory 577 9331.

ln passing, it should be noted that the Foreign Office is the one department of government which has nothing to do with

the running of the country. lts exclusive physical responsibility is the running of buildings, gardens and walls with barbed wire on top in the middle of other people's

played a straight bat

wonder boy Sinologist was perceived to

actually bring the Hong Kong govern-

By Stuart Wolfendale nity. The result is that, whilst a Pacific trade war looms, whilst a great world empire implodes and another glowers intact over the hill, one of the world's major finance and trading centres

is

supposed to play "Guess whose old white

head fits the egret feathersl" Probably the only chap in the game who played a thoroughly straight bat was the Governor. He made honourable noises

about how his job was the best in the world. He said quite early on that he would not stay until the end without saying when he would actually go, possibly

Kong itself was working before their eyes.

Perhaps he underestimated their insistence on consultation. Perhaps angered by the cynically destructive means which

all communists are comfortable with to achieve political ends, he stamped his foot down hard on the Chek Lap Kok pedal.

The airport project he so badly wanted will survive but the independence with

which he began as governor will not.

honeymoon period had to come to an

end. lt barely survived Edward Youde.

The political price of a sovereign entity

he had better not imagine himself a Mountbatten in lndia or a Soames in

know. I would like to think that, instead of being told when he was to go, he told them.

His period of office was bound to have been, if not exactly thankless, certainly not unconditionally acclaimed. The post'84

giving thirteen years prior notice of its

Rhodesia. Both of those men were ex-

intention to commit suicide had to start to be paid. The Party was to get progressively less polite and more breathless as

posed foî less than a year and their briefwas to get the British out intact over political rope bridges. Here the exposure is for five years and those years will have no Teflon qualities. The issues are complex; the Governor's power is near fatally eroded by Lu Ping's six monthly inspection visits and massive political interference from all points of the compass.

The blustering politician candidate for the job had better not see himself getting tough with China either. Sir David tried that and the Prime Minister had to fly all the way to Beijing to re-rubberize the British position. lt is the intention of the British to decolonise in the classic tradition, to leave without embarrassment, with good humour, the PWD intact and a smile on the face, even if that smile has to be fixed with wax and the undertaker's art. lt is not every political hack, currently well respected, who fancies going out in five years time looking like that.

its hands got closer to the important Hong Kong controls. What few could foresee being added to the Hong Kong bill was the Party's bitter and disappointing change of course at Tiananmen. The

Governor's voice, usually donnishly reasonable and conciliatory took on for once, a stern, almost outspoken tone at this juncture. Yet, for all his practical good works his image bobbed sufferingly in the

strong current of events, sometimes in that of the domestic, reforming pro-ionsul, sometimes crossing over to that of China diplomat and sometimes whirled right around into that of overseas trade emissary. lt was meant to demonstrate hard working versatility. lt looked like little

boy lost.

history's one example of where King

They say his undoing was the Chek Lap Kok airport, to which he was vigorously committed. He of all people - the

politically amok in a real, organic commu-

magìc when the brighter spell of Hong

There is little more that he could do here.

It would be nice to think that he said, " Of this, I have had enough and the peerage, I want no-w."

To play the Foreign Office's infantile guessing game, he will be gone by June at latest. lf he was going to stay longer, he could have waited for the Birthday Honours List. Whoever his successor is,

because, until very lately, he did not

countries. Hong Kong may prove to be Charles Street has been allowed to run

ment head on to Beijing and ready to butt.

Perhaps the linguistic wand of the Oxbridge Sinologist was no longer waving its

THECORRESPONDBNT FEBRUARY 1992 23

t1___sl_-tz

Lr--¡S

PEOPLE

trLJtr

Going green with Gavin

THERE'S ALWAYS

A STORYAT

THE

HONG I(ONG TRADE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

$

a

so q

Gavin Coates with son Thomas

ome years ago FCC member Gavin Coates was on a bumpy coach ride across the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. The Film being shown was as terrifying as the driving, so Gavin looked out of the window instead. Mistake. The landscape also

horrified him

-- huge swaths of

land

devastated by tin mining.

Surveying the bleakness that was once lush forest, Gavin felt his green sensibilities he's a landscape architect, member of Friends of the Earth, Green power,

-

World Wide Fund for Nature sorely tried. Suddenly he spotted a big lonely raintree. "lt struck me as a very strong image, and a simple story came to me."

As he remarked on this to his girlfriênd Regina, the coach came screeching to a skidding halt around a sharp bend and what confronted them was chilling; a freshly-upended coach like theirs lying in a paddy{ield, its passenger section

-

crushed.

Now Gavin is not one to flap about in sentimental cliches, but he admits the

incident struck him with the frailty of his own mortality.

So, backhecameto Hong Kong, married Regina, had baby Thomas, worked at his

cartoon/illustration business and somewhere in between turned his "simple story" into a book called lhe Lasf Nut which was

published by Macmillan Hong Kong just before Christmas.

It's a 26-page offering to the cause of environment-awareness. Each page offers a lavish illustration which takes the story from wild jungle to a post-apocalyptic scent of urban self-destruction, faintly recognisable as the demented chaos of present-day Hong Kong.

The story describes how a once flourishing forest ends up as an urban nightmare of pollution and technologicalthuggery with just one hope left for renewal

-

the last nut.

Gavin is serious about the message, "The human race is like a foetus poisoning its own mother. This planet is not

are destroying. And we will go before it does, I am convinced of that, the earth has been through worse than this."

Gavin manages to get his message across in an exuberantly colourful and amusing way. Blimpish colonialtypes rush around in rickshaws, 'funny looking animals with no tails or hair' called people share the forest with bug-eyed spiders and adorable baby elephants.

Given the appalling lack of any concerted attempt to improve our environmental lot here, Gavin and some likeminded people recently formed a nonprofit making company called Permaculture Asia Limited. Based on the notion that without a permanent and sustain-

The Hong Kong Trode Development Council con help you moke business heodlines every doy of the yeor As

o mojor force in world trode you'll find we've olwoys got o good $ory to tell: no podding, no puff ond bocked by occurote, uplo+he-moment figures ond $oti$ics, Next time you receive one of our press releoses, give it o good once-over, You'll soon see whot we meon, 0r contoct us if you need detoils on ony ospect of Hong Kong trode,

able lood supply there is no future for human culture itself, it aims to work with people in Hong Kong and "anywhere else we are asked to" to set up sustainable systems for providing basic human needs.

Marion Bourke

fel

724 67231415

.

Bongkok Normon l\4, Poiosol mi

Tel

| 2 73-8800

.

Borcelono Jooquin Moeslre Tel:

4I

5-8382

.

Beijing Roger

¡ Voncouver Jeff Domonslry Tel: ó85 378ó . Vionno Johonnes Nêumonn Teli 533 981 I . Zudch J.A, Funer Tel:383 2950

called Mother Earth for nothing it's the thing we came out from and the thing we

-

Hong Kong Trade Development Council

24

We Creote Opportunilies

THE CORRESPONDENTFEBRUARY 1992

C

hu Tel:

5I

2-8óó

I . Budopesl Gobriello

Prozsok

PEOPLE

FCC membership has its privileges On January 3, Bob Sanders married Nirachara Chantrarakumsri, whom everybody calls Dan for obvious reasons.

The grandfather of racing drivers, and just about anyone else, Les Leston flew out from his retirement home in Europe specially for the happy occasion with wife Kit. After arriving at

THE ZOO

BY ARTHUR HACP<ER

199?. ]-HE YEAR. Ctr I_HE A^O\I KEY IN THE CHINESE ZODIAC

TH E AA.ONK EY I 5 NO1-ORIOUS FOR

trl

V u

\^/ I l-

the Cotton Tree Drive Marriage Registry, the old boy discovered he had neither lD card nor passporl with him, a little embarrassing when you are supposed to be one of the witnesses. After a frantic search through his wallet he came up

{ I

\A/r3D.C^^

with his FCC membership card, which the Registrar accepted after a bit of head scratching. This must be a first in the history of the Club,

where a membership card became an official document.

KUNG HEI rR_r aov./

/raìtYò)

"rV¿¿á ht F

F

ÒO

o o

{

Bob and Dan cutting the wedding cake.

Les offering some friendly advice to Bob, they both married on their birthdays, just so they won't forget their anniversaries.

AND PER,FIDY f;;;I

l¡roae

\Þ.AMNEò

The man of the Yearbook hits 60

I

|

I

David Roberts, the indomitable editor of the Hong Kong Yearbook, celebrated his 6oth birthday with his lovely wife Su and a few friends in the FCC Main Dining Room on January 1 0. A good time was had by all. David was the recipient of numerous birlhday presents -- some of which

were splendid -- and some of which were unspeakably

David Roberts with wife Su

26

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1992

vile.

THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARYl992

27

OBITUARY: Francis Lara 1925-1991

LETTERS

Frqncis Lara, one of the FCC's earliest Presidents, died suddenly in Paris on December 20 last year aged 66. He joined Agence France Presse in 1946 when he was barely 20 years old and remained with AFP until his retirement in1986. He was Hong Kong bureau chief in the 1950's and was Washington correspondent throughout the 60's. He returned to Paris in 1973 where he was assigned to Redchef -- the group of duty editors who oversee AFP's global operations. In 19Bl he was named managing editor and deputy to AFP's then President Henri Pigeat. The French government recognised Lara's professionalism and services to France by appointing him an fficer of the Legion of Honour. Russell Spurr, an old colleague, recalls an initial milestone in Lara's highly successful career.

FRANCIS Lara and myself were the first foreign correspondents admitted to China after the revolution to cover a specific story. I was the underpaid and overworked representative in Asia of Lord Beaverbrook's London Daily Express "who the hell is this man Spurr?" the Beaver once exclaimed, and for a time my future was assured. Francis was Hong Kong bureau chief of Agence France Press which also made him responsible for attempting to cover events on the mainland. The story we were brought in to cover is nowadays of academic interest. The REAL story sure - the story I'm Beijing had originally in mind broke a few days later over our unsuspecting heads. The Chinese decided to launch a further attack upon the Kuomintang; not on its main refuge in Taiwan but against

the small garrison left to defend the inhospitable Tachen lslands that straggle offshore a short distance south of Shanghai. Air and naval units of the PLA began to pound the islands. Our respective news editors, way across the other side of the world, began to pound us. WHY UNNEWS QUERY The telegrams grew more and more in-

sistent. After all, our organisations had achieved a considerable coup getting us into China at all. Now the clouds of war were gathering - the Seventh Fleet was moving menacingly close to the Chinese coast - and not a word apart from the usual NCNA garbage was coming out of Beijing.

Francis was one of the coolest characters I've ever known. He was witty, so-

28

phisticated, everything a Frenchman is supposed to be, with a marvellous command of English.

But were we correct? Had the PLA

"A language eminently suited to journalism," he would occasionally declare, adding, "which is more than one can say for English cooking." But as the rockets rolled in the tempers wore thin. The press department of the Chinese foreign office remained zip-lipped. The most mundane remark ("cold today, isn't it?") moved the official spokesman to advise that "your query will be referred to the meteorological office."

The British charge d'affairs office was no more forthcoming. The only real news came courtesy of the BBC. The morning newscast from London revealed that the Tachens were being evacuated. At lunchtime our minder from

the Press Department took us to see a newsreel of an earlier assault on the smallest Tachen island. Troops were shown dedicating a banner to be raised on the highest peak in the Tachen chain.

Back at our hotel the BBC was announcing that the KMT evacuation was complete.

"Time to attack," said Francis. I agreed.

We grabbed our Olivettis, knocked

herogrammes came zipping back from London and Paris a few hours later.

on

completed its operation? Miraculously it had, as the BBC confirmed during the

evening. Next day Francis and

I met

Zhou Enlai at a diplomatic reception. He called us both over. "Nice story," he said.

"Most descriptive. There was only one thing - you got that flag on the summit two hours ahead of our landing forces."

T.J. Aldeguer: 1900-1991 T.J. Aldeguer, or Tommy to all who knew him in Reuters, passed away peacefully at his home in Victoria, British Columbia, on December 1 0, 1 991 . He was 91 .

An old China hand and an august presence atthe Foreign Correspondent's Club when it was housed at Conduit Road, he

was among a select group recruited by Reuters in Shanghai to cover China in turmoil.

He was moved to the Hong Kong bureau following the Communist takeover of the mainland. ln the years that fol-

afternoon.

Details we'd picked up from the news-

lowed, he filed occasional pieces but took on more and more administrative duties and many were the correspondents who had their pay cheques ducked by Tommy for questionable expensesl A keen soccer player in his Shanghai days, he was able to keep up his interest

reel and from the BBC supplied the requi-

in bridge in his retirement. He was,

site colour. "The litter of war lay across hastily abandoned fox holes ...." The

fact, in a bridge contest a week before his death.

wood for luck and filed a detailed story of

the final Chinese assault. lt had already gone in, we reckoned, and the flag raised, as we sat typing, around four o'clock that

THECORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1992

in

The Bear doing well THIS is a letter to all my friends at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents' Club as requested by Rabbi ll, Saul Lockart, when he visited me at G.F Strong Hospital last October.

My best wishes for the New Year go to: Gary Coull and Vicky Wong, Bert and Phielle Woodward, Jim and Ailene Walker, Ken and Eilza (Petal) Mckenzie, Humphrey Hawkesley, Ray Lunney, Rick Borsuk, John Hardie, David Thurston, Brian Jeffries, Nancy Nash,

and events. Ted's memory is not 100% yet, but it still recalls a wealth of detail - which for him and I include working our way through the bars of Patpong on various occasions, a memorable bout in Klong Tuey and a hilarious time in the Los Anþeles airport. For

me, the change in the 18 months since I saw Ted, a near vegetable in a Bangkok hospital, was nothing shoñ of a miracle.

Ted - | know I speak for everyone around

the FCC's Oval Bar when I say I look Dunfee with sons Sasha (left) and

forward to your promised visit.

Satori

Penny Byrne, Adrian Zecha, Murray

and Raymonde Bailey, Vivianne

Hui,

Kevin and Kit Sinclair, Russelland Zelda

Cawthorne, Saul Lockart, Simon Halley, Vijay Verghese, Mike Keats, Phillip

Bowring, Robert Woodrow, Peter Comarelli, Mike O'Neil, Ray Cranbourne,

Garry Marchand, Neil Farrin, Jake van der Kamp, Steve Fallen, Mike Rothchild, and anybody else I may have forgotten.

I'm not trying to make excuses, but in

addition to my viral encephalitis, I also suffered a debilitating stroke on the left side of my brain. The result - I am left with a very poor short term memory, so I hope that any of you who I may have forgotten will not be offended.

Anyway, have a very nice holiday, and I hope to see you all at the Club this

summer.

The Bear (Ted Dunfee), Canada

Absent Members AS an absent member I read The Correspondent with interest for its news of the Club's activities.

I am pafiicularly interested in news of old

friends of my vintage (Hong Kong 19661981) such as Kevin Sinclair's piece on lan

Stewart in the last issue and gatherings of ex-Hong Kong FCC members in Australia.

I am sure that other retired foreign correspondents, now absent members, share this interest and look forward to their copy of The Correspondent for this reason.

France

lN celebration of Earth

'

Day, Friends of the Earth willbe organising

a carnival. Jog for the Earth'92 kicks off at

join thousands of jog-

Ford and lwalked in Ted Dunfee's room

in the rehabilitation centre in October, he greeted me with a roar and a hug.

Though wheelchair-bound, the Bear is much improved. He now has a com-

gathered that Saturday afternoon and it

CELBBRATION TOG FOR THE, EARTH

1 1 am on Friday 1 7 April (Easter Fr¡day). TV and radio personalities will

David Davis,

Saul Lockart writes: When Ashley

puter and his letter to the Club was written on it. The whole family was

EARTH DAY

Offer to Help EXCUSE the impudence, but don't you think you need a proofreader ?

was wonderful to see Ted's sparkling bright eyes radiating happiness as his two kids ran around the familiar con-

Peter Cordingley,

fines of his hospital room. lt was after Grandma and Grandpa Dunfee took them off for a mid-day feed that the three of us settled down to a long jocular

(Peter, thanks for the offer ..Ed)

gers with prizes for the bestteams and biggest fundraisers. There will be a range of activities including street exhibitions and a giant penguin, which friends of the Earth hope will create a truly festive and successful day.

Editor,

Sunday Morning Post Magazine

session reminiscing about people, places

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1992 29

The Swi¡e Group

NEV/ MEMBERS

The FCC welcomes the following new members McGeachin, scriptwriter, Emphasis.

CORRESPONDENT

Peter Moreira, business reporler, South

CAT

H

John Donovan, electronics writer,

China Morning Post. Edward Peters,

Power Software Ltd. Peter Goodspeed, Asia bureau chiel, Toronto Sfar. Jeremy Grant, sub-editor, Reuters.

John Mcinnis, leisure and arts editor, Asian Wall Street Journal. Joao Miguel Roque, chief correspondent, Lusa (Portuguese News Agency).

reporter/sub-e dilor, Hong Kong Sh ippi ng Gazette.

Rosalina Tchen, correspondent, Yomiuri Shimbun. Hwee-Boo Yang, Hong

AY

Kong bureau chieÍ, Korean Broadcasting System.

PACIFIC'S

I{OI{G KONG

ASSOCIATE

Philip Gray, managing director fund management, G.T Management (Asia) Limited Glenn Haley, consultant, McKenna and Co. Peter Hamilton, director of corporate affairs, Hong Kong Telecom.

Martin Clarke, programme officer,

Lydia Ko, sales manager, manager Media Co., Ltd. Willem Lau, director, MBC Asia Ltd. Connie Leung, senior

RTHK. Anna Fenton, deputy editor special features, South China Morning Post.

Victoria Finlay, reporter, The Standard. Lucinda Horne, business reporter,

economist, Hong Kong Government.

Anne Lim, sales manager, Manager Media Co., Ltd. Venu Menon, publisher.

Stream Publishers.

South China Morning Post. Stuart

John Molen, foreign service officer,

JOURNALIST

US Department of State. Pran Parashar,

director/general manager, Hong Kong Hispeed Ferries Ltd.

Anthony Phillips, managing director, Message Management Ltd. Ronald Proulx, manager-business development and sales, ABB Combustion Engineering Systems.

Carlos Rubio Reyna, consul, Government of Argentina.

Som Tam, executive director, Roman Communication Limited.

Gene Tsoi, medical practice, self employed.

Patrick Tuohy, regional manager, Hong Kong and Far East, C.M.l., Financial Man-

agement Services Ltd. Peter Webb, financial director, Jardine Securicor Ltd. Robert Young, chief executive, Gilman Business Systems.

Arnold Tucker, executive vice president, Satellite Television Asian Region Ltd.

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lnt'l Press Centre, 14 Snaregard, DK-1 205, Copenhagen K.

Off 314 Pitt St., Sydney, NSW 2000.

The Victoria Club, Level 41 , Rialto South Tower, 525 Collins St., Melbourne, Victoria 3000.

EUROPE

Germany Journalisten Club, Berllins E.V., Kurfurstendamm 224, 1000 Berlin 15.

CANADA Ottawa National Press Club, 150 Wellington, Ottawa KIP 544.

Winnipeg Press Club, Marlborough Hotel, 331 Smith St., Winnipeg, Manitoba R3b 2G9, Canada.

Presse Club Munchen, 8000 Mu nchen 2, Marienplalz 22, Germany.

Holland' Nieuwspoort lnternational, Press Centre, Hofsingel 12, The Hague, The Netherlands.

THECORRESPONDENTFEBRUARY 1992

31

WOLFENDALE AT LARGE

A bunker with a view erhaps the most prominent of

the key 1o the cupboard that the nob

recent developments in the Club has been what has come to be

locked in.

affectionately known as "the Fuhrerbunker". lt's graffiti-stained workmen's hoarding peeled away, it is revealed as a

brilliantly lit engraved glass sanctuary away from the vile oaths and ten strong "rounds" of The Main Bar. It is immensely popular. Asformerpresident Hugh Van Es said from the depths of an armchair in there, "We bitched like hellaboutthis place and now we spend all our time sitting in the f*****1" The attractions of the Bunker are not

is

Altogether though, the replacement of

those very static cornkrake ladies from CNN with BBC World Service TV has been a happy move. I particularly enjoy familiar BBC weathermen who have just driven into the studio from Leatherhead giving airy and slightly unconfident de-

scriptions of centres of high pressure over the Gulf of Tonkin. For several there

Well, the expansion of the workroom at

the expense of Terminator 2 and Police Academies 1 through 6 should go some way to establishing our bona fides if the previous fifty years quite managed to. So should

take associate member Karl Grebsted and a pair of step ladders to reach but that is not necessary either because they

are empty. This has provoked comment

is no such thing as lndonesia. They call it

but plans are afoot to fill the racks with old

"Down South" and hurry on to Melanesia. They have an obvious distaste for

32

r\

the attempted acquisition of that bust furniture shop be-

wooden perch. Others lyricise about its potential as a wine bar but there is no bar and no wine. There are wine racks placed at a height that would

Debate has raged over the level of sound that accompanies the screen above the entrance to the Bar. "Turn the bloody thing up" countered by "Turn the bloody thing down" have become a new and jovial feature of lunch time society. The catch to turning it in any direction is to track down one of the few member of staff who know where the nob to the bloody thing lives and then get one of them to find the sole colleague who has

'l

or so of our existence have not

altogether easy to explain. lt was described originally as a "reading room" but there isn't very much to read and what there is keeps slipping off its

wine bottles which will be just as empty.

It would be nice 1o call it a television room but there is a slight flaw to that as well because you cannot, at the time of writing, hear the sound without drawing from the office a pair of wireless headphones the size of industrial ear defenders which make you look a right Noddy.

l*f

foreign erotica like typhoons and temperatures of 34 degrees C, yearning clearly for the certainties of the Scillies and strong winds coming in from them.

What the sight of world affairs flickering

tweenThe Club and The Fringe. ln that respect matters have not been altogether smooth or neighbourly. One afternoon, our President, flushed from a private lunch pow wow with the Governor and the possibility of an interview with somebody very imporlant in Beijing, ' popped round to Benny Chia, not for the first time to help expedite the club's bid to acquire the shop space as a new business and communications centre.

Chia, hauled out of a meeting told Seidlitz to go take a hike and make an appointment. He returned to the Club with a face considerably redder than his glowing cigar butt and I thought with slight

traces of steam showing from under his cashmere overcoat.

across walls above our heads has done

My views on slightly spoilt young people

is to give the Club added gravitas. lt seems that we are in need of it. An

with pony tails making politically correct and tediously uncommercial art are not exactly temperate. I do think though, that we should take one of those clapped out

approach to Governmentto buy our premises was met with no small sympathy conditional though on us giving off the aura of greater professionalism.

I have always maintained that there is nothing amateurish about the consumption of food and bev round the Main Bar or the very slick manipulations of card, dice and cue downstairs butthis, it seems, does not impress.

THE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 1992

Gelebrating 6O million great cameras.

Chinese tanks which got sold to the Thais

and drive the thing right through to the other end of lce House Street, claiming the lot for the FCC. Michelle's "At the FCC" can stay.

Stuart Wolfendale

Canon

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