---------------------------------------------------- Internet Guide for Chinese Studies Newsletter http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/igcs/ignew.htm ---------------------------------------------------- 20 Jun 2003 (HL) New in IGCS - News Media: HKJA 2003 Annual Report: False security. Hong Kong's national security laws pose a grave threat to freedom of expression Ed./Corp.: Hong Kong Journalists Association / Article 19, Hong Kong, PR China, Jun 2003. URL.: http://www.hkja.org.hk/ben_act/download/2003Whole%20Report-Eng.doc Language: English. Self description: "Hong Kong's political transition - from British colony to special administrative region of the People's Republic of China - while outwardly smooth, has seen several lamentable markers. As this year's annual report - the 11th joint report of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) and ARTICLE 19 - goes to press, we are readying ourselves for another; the likely passage, in mid-July, of laws to prohibit treason, sedition, secession, subversion and the theft of state secrets, as set down under article 23 of Hong Kong's constitution, the Basic Law. [...]" Site contents: (1) Introduction; (2) Conclusions and recommendations; (3) The passage of national security laws (The government's proposals; Street battles and the numbers game; The HKJA's response; No meaningful concessions; The blue bill; The end game); (4) The implications of national security laws (Sedition offences set to chill freedoms; Theft of state secrets proposals breed uncertainty; Draconian powers of search and seizure); (5) Judicial protection for the media (Gains in defamation cases; The press versus the state; The people versus the state); (6) National security laws: The lessons from SARS (A virus spreads, and so do the lies; Protecting whose safety?; Week one: what you don't know can't kill you; Week two: all quiet in Guangdong; Week three: anxieties, more anxieties; Week four: "Save us please; we're exhausted"; Week five: a doctor is angry; Week six: the real truth, more or less; Week seven & beyond: don't celebrate yet); (7) Other media developments in 2002-03. Previous annual reports: 2002: The Line Hardens. Tougher stance on civil rights threatens freedom of expression in Hong Kong. 2001: [Last year Taiwan, this year the Falun Gong]. 2000: Patriot Games. Hong Kong's media face to face with the Taiwan factor. 1999: The Ground Rules Change. Freedom of expression in Hong Kong two years after the handover to China. Older annual reports are still available at the Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org): 1998: Questionable Beginnings. A report on Freedom of Expression in the Hong Kong SAR one year after the change of sovereignty. 1994-1997: [no titles]. (for URLs please visit the IGCS at http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/igcs/media/intro.htm#freehk) _______________________________________________________ With kind regards, Hanno E. Lecher INTERNET GUIDE FOR CHINESE STUDIES -- editor http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/igcs/ _______________________________________________________ An archive of this list as well as an subscribe/unsubscribe facility is available at: http://listserv.uni-heidelberg.de/archives/igcs-l.html