Journalist in jail
Shocking news here in Hong Kong (besides the Filipina domestic helper who was charged with theft by her employer, a local movie actor).
A HK-based veteran journalist, Ching Cheong, was charged by the Beijing government of spying for Taiwan. After being incarcerated for 16 months (since August last year) when Ching went to Guangzhou.
Ching, 56, is The Strait Times’ chief correspondent for China. He was charged with espionage, accused of sending state secrtes and intelligence to a Taiwanese foundation between May 2004 and April 2004. He was allegedly paid 300,000 yuan.
Ching’s family and colleagues in the journalism profession are aghast. Ching has an established reputation as an activist-journalist, taking strong stands on issues favoring democracy and human rights in the straits. He took a stand against the crackdown in Tiananmen, and supported calls for suffrage rights in Hong Kong. He has consistently helped HR institutions document the various human rights violations in China; and supported moves for peace negotiations between China and Taiwan.
The Hong Kong Journalist Association held a presscon yesterday and its officials looked completely bewildered. They could barely restrain themselves from speaking out more vehemently against the Beijing government, and went on about the curtailment of press freedom and the right to a fair trial. In the entire time that Ching was incarcerated, all the developments in his case were kept severely under wraps. The trial itself was conducted almost under a cloak of secrecy — no transparency, no detailed reports, the media was not allowed to cover it nor were they given any interviews with Ching.
Legal experts insist that Ching’s trial was prejudged, and that the evidence presented against Ching was weak. Beijing did not even cite which Taiwanese ’spy agency’ its referring to, and specifically what kind of reports that Ching wrote and allegedly sent qualified as ’state secrets.’ Friends and colleagues are also angered by the accusation that Ching would spy on his own country in exchange for money.
Acting like a complete jellyfish, in the meantime, Hong Kong Chief executive Donald Tsang said that his adminstration is not in any position to question Beijing’s legal system and its decision on the Ching case. He said that the ‘one country, two systems’ policy applies, and thus Hong Kong’s hands are tied. Gad, this Bow-Tied One is some weakling. I hope he doesn’t get re-elected.
It’s to be hoped that the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) would issue a statement on this issue and support calls for Ching’s immediate release. Journalists in the Philippines know better than to back down from state repression, and it would be a big boost for the Hong Kong campaign for greater democracy (against Beijing…) if journalists from other countries would comment on this matter.
For their part, journalists in Hong Kong should push the limits of the democratic space in Hong Kong and speak out against the abuses of the Beijing government. The human rights violations being perpetrated in China are the stuff of nightmares.
In the last month, reports have been coming about about how Beijing government has been sizing up Taiwan’s military potential and even nuclear capability. The other day a story came out in the South China Morning Post that in two years, China can launch a full attack against Taiwan, ‘and everything will be over in just seven minutes.’
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Next to human rights, my second favorite cause is animal rights (third ang environment, but I haven’t had the chance to do any environmental work and advocacy). I was very pleased to know that here in Hong Kong, they have very strict animal rights laws, and kicking/hurting/starving/abandoning, etc animals is a crime and one can get fined a maximum of $5000.
The animal shelters and pet stores are very strict before they let anyone adopt or buy pets. They question the would-be owner about their priorities and whether they’re certain up to 100% that they can handle the responsibility of taking care of a pet for the animal’s entire life; and that they can provide the animals with food, a comfortable environment and daily walks to the park, and most important LOVE.
If the would-be-owner is less than 100%, then chances are the animal shelter and the pet store won’t let you adopt or sell you a cat or dog.
I agree with that wholeheartedly, but I also wish that Hong Kong (like any other society that proclaims its love for animals) would care more about the plight of humans more (like the domestic helpers who end up taking care of the animals because their owners go to work or school. The HK government won’t raise wages back to the pre-SARS level and scrap the ant). But that’s a separate blog altogether, and for the most part, I am in love with the legal system because it more or less (90%) works.
Anyways, I feel strange about this story in PDI. Hurrah for the animals, but I feel ambivalent towards the proponents of the project. I wonder if the human rights activists approached them , would they express the same concern for the HR issues?
Concert for volunteers, canines’ cause
CLASSICAL music will literally go to the dogs in a fundraising concert for volunteers and their four-legged partners in rescue missions.
The music of Frederic Chopin and Filipino composer Nicanor Abelardo will fill the air on Sept. 23 as the Philippine National Red Cross and Philippine Canine Search and Rescue Foundation Inc. (PHK9SAR) stage a benefit concert titled “Dog Day Afternoon.” The concert, which will gather international and Filipino musicians in “an elegant soiree of light classical music”, will be held at 3 p.m. at the residence of organizer Kumiko Kuroda in Forbes Park, Makati City.
“We save human lives with the help of dogs. But we need funds for these efforts, so I thought of putting up a charity event where the guests can also enjoy beautiful classical music,” said Kuroda, who came up with the idea of a fund-raiser with PHK9SAR chair Reneé Speltz.
Proceeds from the concert would go to the Red Cross and PHK9SAR, a group of volunteers and dogs trained to take part in search and rescue operations, bomb detection and evidence tracking. The group was in Southern Leyte last February to rescue villagers buried in a landslide.
The concert will feature tenor Juan Alberto Gaerlan, sopranos Karla Patricia Gutierrez and Jennifer Uy-Wong, violinist Jay Cayuca, cellists Yuuka Omoto and Rafael Laperal, Noriko Kojima, and pianists from the Jovianney Cruz Piano Studio.
September 14th, 2006 at 9:15 pm
Haay naku, dapat magsama tayong mag-volunteer sa animal shelter dito!