Defending Martin Lee

Lucciora 發表於 2007-10-30 11:57:00

Hong Kong’s govern-ment boasts that the territory shares Western freedoms, though
the lack of universal suffrage has long been a glaring exception. Now comes a
concerted media attack on Hong Kong’s most prominent democrat, suggesting that
freedom of speech may be under threat, too. The assault, which has
the flavor of a Cultural Revolution struggle session, stems from an op-ed
entitled 「China’s Olympic Opportunity」 published in the U.S. edition of this
newspaper on Oct. 17, and in this edition the day after. In the article, Hong
Kong legislator and Democratic par-ty founder Martin Lee called on President Bush
and other world leaders to 「press for a significant improvement of basic human
rights. . . including press, assembly and religious freedoms」 and to use 「direct
engagement,」 rather than listen to calls from some quarters for an Olympic
boycott. Mr. Lee was abroad when the op-ed was published. Upon his
return to Hong Kong last week, the political assault started. OnFriday, a raft
of pro-Beijing newspapers—including Hong Kong’s largest-circulation daily, the
Oriental Daily News, as well as the Ming Pao Daily News and Sing Tao
Daily—simultaneously ran leading stories attacking Mr. Lee. (Oriental Daily’s
subtle headline was 「Martin Lee: A Crazy Traitor.」) The biggest English-language
daily, the South China Morning Post, also took up the cudgel, saying Mr. Lee’s
comments would 「fuel Beijing’s worst fears about Hong Kong being used as a base
for foreign interference.」 Hong Kong’s Beijing-controlled
legislatureadded its criticism, while the chairman of the pro-Beijing Democratic
Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong called for Mr. Lee to
apologize. Several dozen people waited outside of the legislature to jeer at Mr.
Lee whenhe left the building. The HongKong govern-ment didn’t muster a defense of
Mr. Lee’s right to free speech. Hong Kong’s second-highest ranking official,
Henry Tang, told reporters Friday that the Olympics shouldn’t be
「politicized.」 This incident is extraordinary, and not only because
it’s the first time that a Hong Kong democracy advocate has been targeted so
ferociously. In this case, the campaign was organized against something Mr. Lee
didn’t even say. Many of the articles suggested that he had called for an
Olympic boycott, thoughhe expressly didn’t. Chinese translations also changed
Mr. Lee’s words, so that his call for 「direct engagement」 became 「intervention」
and 「press for」 became 「pressurize.」 (Mr. Lee’s original op-ed can be found at
WSJ.com/opinion.) The pro-Beijing camp has many reasons for assailing
Mr. Lee. Because he is Hong Kong’s most eloquent and famous democracy advocate,
his words carry weight in Western capitals, at a time whenChina
hascomeunderintense pressure to improve its human-rights record. Many of the
attacks also linked Mr. Lee’s 「unhelpful」 comments with local pro-democracy
advocate Anson Chan, who is running for legislative office in a December
by-election against a proBeijing candidate. China’s efforts to
demonize Mr. Lee may backfire. Hong Kong citizens are sophisticated, educated
people who treasure their freedoms and will recognize a mainland-style smear
campaign for what it is. The attacks on the democracy advocate have also been
widely reportedinTaiwan, furtherundermining any Beijing hope that that island’s
people will accept Hong Kong’s 「one country, two systems」 as a model for
unification. When reached by telephone yesterday, Mr. Lee said he was
「flabbergasted」 bythe attacks. True toform, he’s fighting backbytelling the
truth aboutwhathereally wrote and believes. And that is the spirit that will
ultimately protect Hong Kong’s freedoms. 

[ 本帖最後由 Lucciora 於 2007-10-30 12:01 編輯 ]

廣州人喺圖盧茲 發表於 2007-10-30 18:31:49

Come on,everyone knows that 'press for' and 'engagement' mean 'push or hasten' and 'negotiation' respectively.
 
I'm trying to figure that out,why the fucking bumpkins have caught on that with 'pressurize' and 'intervention'?I think the english would be degraded with upcoming yrs in HK.Well..............the kids are gonna get a goddamn problem with the languages,because they have a couple of 'good' teachers

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Defending Martin Lee