HONG KONG

The rise of shadowy pro-Beijing protest groups is one visible sign of China’s campaign for control in The battle for Hong Kong’s soul

BY GREG TORODE, JAMES POMFRET AND BENJAMIN KANG LIM

PRO-DEMOCRACY FORCES: Tens of thousands in Hong Kong took part in a June 4 candelight vigil marking the 25th anniversary of the military crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. REUTERS/PAUL YEUNG

SPECIAL REPORT 1 HONG KONG THE BATTLE FOR HONG KONG’S SOUL

HONG KONG /BEIJING, JULY 1, 2014

ince Britain handed back colonial Hong Kong in 1997, retired prima- Sry school teacher and Falun Gong devotee Lau Wai-hing has fully exercised the freedoms China promised this city of 7.2 million. Lau and fellow believers regularly staged protests to explain the teachings of their spiritual movement and draw attention to the persecution of followers on the main- land, where the sect is banned. Until about a year ago, their protests were uneventful. That changed when a noisy rival group set up their placards and banners on the same pavement in the busy shopping area of Causeway Bay. VOTING TO VOTE: “Occupy Central” organizers (L-R) Chan Kinman, Benny Tai and Reverend Chu Yiu- The 63-year-old Lau and her fellow pro- ming announcing results of an unofficial referendum for full democracy.REUTERS/TYRONE SIU testers said they’ve been punched, shoved and sworn at since the newcomers from the “Care for the Youth Group Association for the Youth Group Association are part of Hong Kong” arrived with their blaring a campaign from the mainland to tighten loudspeakers. Each protest is now a battle control over China’s most freewheeling to be heard. “It is much more difficult now city. Increasingly, they say, Beijing is raising given these attacks, this external pressure, 1,200 its voice. In the streets, boardrooms, news- these forces from China,” said Lau amid The number of people currently rooms, churches and local government of- the amplified din on Sogo Corner, Hong on Hong Kong’s election fices, individuals and organisations with Kong’s neon-lit version of New York’s committee, which selects the links to the state and China’s Communist Times Square. Party are playing a bigger role in civil and For critics of the pro-Beijing govern- Hong Kong Chief Executive. political life, well-placed sources in Hong ment in Hong Kong, groups like the Care Source: Hong Kong government Kong and Beijing say.

Creeping controls Since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, Beijing has gradually increased control over the territory even though Beijing promised wide-ranging freedoms and autonomy under the formula of “one country, two systems”, along with an undated promise of universal surage.

July 1997 February 2001 June 2002 Hong Kong is handed back to China Hong Kong’s number two oicial, Chief Trial of 16 members of the Falun Gong a­er more than 150 years of British rule. Secretary , who opposed spiritual movement arrested during a Tung Chee-hwa, a -born former Chinese interference in the territory's protest outside Beijing's Liaison Oice in shipping tycoon, is hand-picked by aairs, resigns under pressure from the territory. The 16 are found guilty of Beijing to rule the territory. Beijing. causing a public obstruction.

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CRITIC AND CHIEF: Anson Chan (L) and Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. REUTERS/BOBBY YIP AND TYRONE SIU

Whenever there are anti-government 160,000-strong civil service in the last years public protests, a pro-Beijing counter Leung Chun-ying is just a of British rule and continued in that role movement invariably appears. This year’s puppet for Beijing’s interests. for several years after the handover. 25th anniversary commemoration of the Chan cited as examples pressures on protests centred on Beijing’s Tiananmen Anson Chan Hong Kong companies not to advertise in Square drew a rival demonstration to defend Former head of Hong Kong’s Civil Service pro-democratic newspapers, attempts to China’s bloody crackdown on June 4, 1989. limit debate about democratic reform, and Mainland officials based in Hong Kong Residents of this global financial cen- the higher profile increasingly being taken now routinely seek to influence local media tre could not help noticing a more overt by Beijing’s official representatives in the city. coverage. sign of China’s rule in the former British “It’s not another Chinese city and it Catholic priests in Hong Kong report colony: Huge Chinese characters spelling shouldn’t become one. Hong Kong is that agents from China’s security service out “People’s Liberation Army” in a blaze unique,” said Chan. have stepped up their monitoring of prom- of neon alongside the military’s waterfront XI’S TOUGHER LINE inent clergy. headquarters that suddenly appeared at the And, Beijing’s official representative beginning of June. In China’s opaque political system, it is im- body, the Liaison Office of the Central For Beijing’s critics in Hong Kong, possible to determine whether the party’s People’s Government in Hong Kong, now the 1997 handover is feeling more like a growing clout in the territory is entirely is able to shape policy in the office of city takeover. the result of a campaign organised from on chief executive Leung Chun-ying, say two “Blatant interference is increasing,” high, or partly the doing of mainland and sources close to the city’s leader. says Anson Chan, who led Hong Kong’s local officials eager to please Beijing. Still,

July 2003 April 2004 December 2007 Half a million people protest in the China rules that its approval must be Beijing says it will allow the people city against proposed anti-subversion sought for any changes to Hong Kong's of Hong Kong to directly elect their laws. The proposed laws were election laws, giving Beijing the right to own leader in 2017 and their legislators shelved. veto any moves towards more by 2020. democracy.

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COUNTER-PROTEST: Hung Wai-shing, chairman of a pro-Beijing group called “Care for the Youth Group Association Hong Kong”. The group has been countering the protests of the Falun Gong spiritual group in Hong Kong, which is banned in the mainalnd. REUTERS/BOBBY YIP

a tougher line on Hong Kong is coming Four of the largest multinational account- poll – a vote China’s State Council, or from the top. ing firms placed advertisements in local cabinet, called “illegal and invalid”, said the Despite promises that post-handover newspapers warning against the move- state Xinhua news agency. Hong Kong should enjoy a high degree of ment, which has been branded illegal by Fears that the screws are tightening were autonomy, China’s President Xi Jinping, is Chinese authorities. heightened when Beijing published an un- said to have decided that Beijing has been Occupy’s primary aim is to pressure precedented cabinet-level White Paper in too lenient. China into allowing a truly democratic June on Hong Kong. It bluntly reminded “Xi Jinping has rectified (China’s) policy election in 2017. Hong Kong that China holds supreme au- for governing Hong Kong,” a source close to Beijing says Hong Kong can go ahead thority over the city. the Chinese leader told Reuters in Beijing, with a vote in 2017 for the city’s top leader. “The high degree of autonomy of (Hong requesting anonymity. “In the past, the But mainland officials stress that Hong Kong) is not an inherent power, but one mainland compromised toward Hong Kong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, that comes solely from the authorisation by too much and was perceived to be weak.” specifies that only a nominating commit- the central leadership,” it says. This tightening grip has fuelled resent- tee can pick leadership candidates. Pro- The policy document took about a year to ment and sparked a civil disobedience democracy activists demand changes that prepare and was approved by the 25-mem- movement called “Occupy Central”, which would allow the public to directly nominate ber, decision-making Communist Party threatens to blockade part of Hong Kong’s candidates. Politburo around a month ago, a second main business district. Nearly 800,000 people voted in an un- source close to Xi told Reuters in Beijing. Mass protests can paralyse this high- official referendum that ended on Sunday, It’s a tricky issue for China’s new leader- density city. Business leaders have warned which called for Beijing to allow open ship. Hong Kong’s democratic experiment that Occupy could damage businesses: nominations of candidates for the 2017 Text continues on page 6

December 2009 July 2012 June 2014 Hong Kong unveils proposals for Leung Chun-ying takes o ice as chief Nearly 800,000 people cast votes in political reform in response to pressure executive, succeeding uno icial referendum on democratic for greater democracy, including an whose last months in o ice were reforms in Hong Kong, part of a civil enlarged Legislative Council; critics say dogged by controversy over his links campaign branded illegal by the Hong the moves do not go far enough. with wealthy businessmen. Kong and Chinese governments.

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The Party in Hong Kong’s underground

BY GREG TORODE AND JAMES POMFRET

Among dozens of suspected pro-Beijing groups registered with Hong Kong authorities as companies or societies, one is conspicuous by its absence – the Communist Party itself. While Beijing is playing an increasing role in Hong Kong affairs, the local branch of the ruling Communist Party remains officially underground in the free-wheeling capitalist hub – a legacy, in part, of British colonial rule that ended in 1997. From helping foment a wave of riots in Hong Kong in the 1960s that challenged British rule, to paving the way for China’s reunification, the Communist Party is deeply embedded in the city’s history. BEIJING’S CITADEL: Policemen confront protesters at the gate of China’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong. “Nowhere else in the world is there a The office is Beijing’s administrative headquarters in the territory.REUTERS/TYRONE SIU system where the ruling party remains an underground organisation as it does in Hong Kong,” wrote in her on China’s underground control of Hong No mention is made of the Party in the book “Underground Front: The Chinese Kong, notes that London reached a “tacit Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini constitution Communist Party in Hong Kong.” understanding” after the Communist that outlines its freedoms and autonomy and “Its presence in Hong Kong is meant to takeover of China in 1949 that Hong Kong governs its relationship with the rest of China. be a ‘secret’ although one that everyone has could not be used as a battlefront between Nor is there any significant public clamour known about for a very long time,” added communists and the defeated for change – even though the situation is at Loh, who is now a senior Hong Kong official. nationalists that fled to Taiwan. Both would the heart of a clash of political cultures as Nobody really knows how many therefore have to remain underground. Beijing’s confronts a Hong Kong populace Communist Party members there might be The Party, which traces its origins in eager for full democracy. in Hong Kong, or how powerful it is. the city back to 1920s, operated through a Across university campuses in Hong Hong Kong’s current leader, Chief secret committee, running schools, unions Kong, the Students and Executive Leung Chun-ying, has had to and newspapers. China’s state Xinhua Scholars Association has been active in repeatedly deny rumours he is a Communist news agency office became its unofficial organising underground party meetings, Party member. headquarters in Hong Kong. according to sources. “I am not a member of the Communist To ensure a successful handover – and “I’ve got mainland students who have flat Party. I am not a so-called underground its promise of “one country, two systems” out told me they are party members, and member of the Communist Party. In fact, I’m – Beijing opted for the status quo and no even that they go to (the) Liaison Office for not a member, and have not been a member, explicit role for the Party after Hong Kong meetings,” one professor said, speaking on of any political party anywhere in the world,” returned to Chinese rule in 1997. condition of anonymity. he told Reuters in 2012. Xinhua was reduced in size -- its old “Things can only get more complicated building has largely been turned into a state- here as the communist shadows grow NEVER OUTLAWED owned hotel -- and Party work moved to the longer. That is Hong Kong’s reality.” The British never actually outlawed the new Liaison Office in 1998, a year after the party. Sonny Lo, author of a definitive book handover. Editing by Bill Tarrant

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is seen as a litmus test of Beijing’s tolerance for eventual political reforms on the main- land, where calls for greater civil liberties and grassroots democracy have been grow- ing, experts say. President Xi, who has swiftly consoli- dated power in China since taking office by taking a hard line on domestic and foreign affairs, is unlikely to compromise on Hong Kong, the sources close to the leader said. “Hong Kong is no different,” the second source with ties to China’s leadership said. “Pushing for democracy in Hong Kong is tantamount to asking the tiger for its skin.”

SHADOW CABINET China’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong is housed in a skyscraper stacked with sur- veillance cameras, ringed by steel barricades THREATS TO PRESS: Kevin Lau (above), former chief editor of the Ming Pao newspaper, was stabbed in and topped by a reinforced glass globe. February amidst a string of recent attacks and threats against journalists in Hong Kong. REUTERS/STRINGER Soaring above streets filled with dried fish shops and small traders, it is known in slang as “Sai Wan”, a reference to Leung, the Hong Kong Chief Executive, in Beijing, which has Cabinet-level author- to the gritty western end of Hong Kong say the Liaison Office does much more ity over the territory from Beijing, did not Island where it is located. Each day, hun- than that: It helps shape strategically sig- respond to faxed questions. dreds of staff, mostly mainland Chinese, nificant government policies. The Liaison Office uses its broad net- stream into the matte-grey building and its “The real cabinet is the shadow cabi- works, spanning grassroots associations, marble lobby with a large Chinese screen net,” said one source close to Leung. “The businessmen and politicians, to help the painting of pine trees. chief executive’s office can’t do without the Hong Kong government push through Hong Kong is both part of China and Liaison Office’s help on certain matters.” policies needing approval from a largely pro- outside of it as defined in the 1984 Joint The Chief Executive’s office did not di- Beijing legislature. These have included the Declaration, the treaty under which Britain rectly respond to questions on the extent debate over democratic reforms in Hong handed over its former colony. of its ties with the Liaison office. It said Kong and a multi-billion-dollar high-speed “One country, two systems” - conceived in an emailed response that China and rail link to China, one source said. by China’s then-paramount leader Deng Hong Kong shared a close relationship on Liaison Office chiefs were once rare- Xiaoping and British Prime Minister multiple fronts, including at “government- ly seen. But the current director, Zhang Margaret Thatcher - let Hong Kong keep to-government level”. The office stressed Xiaoming, has taken on a far more pub- its free-market economy and internation- Hong Kong’s autonomy and noted that the lic role since taking office 18 months ago ally-respected legal system, with the excep- Basic Law says no Chinese government - around the same time that Xi Jinping tion of foreign affairs and defence. body may interfere in Hong Kong affairs. became China’s leader and Leung Chun- As China’s on-the-ground presence in China’s Liaison Office did not respond ying became chief executive in Hong Kong. Hong Kong, the Liaison Office’s formal to faxes and phone calls seeking comment. Zhang has lunched with legislators and role is described in China’s recent White The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office also attends society gatherings alongside Paper as helping to manage the Chinese local tycoons and business leaders. Zhang government’s ties with the city, as well as did not respond to requests for comment. Follow Reuters Special Reports “communication with personages from all on Facebook: Liaison Office staff, including some sectors of Hong Kong society”. facebook.com/specialreports from the propaganda department, regu- Two high-level sources with close ties larly phone editors and senior journalists at

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Hong Kong referendum More than 780,000 votes were cast by June 29 in Hong Kong, as part of a civil campaign that has been branded illegal by local and mainland Chinese authorities.

REFERENDUM RESULTS

“For Chief Executive Election 2017, I support “If the government proposal cannot satisfy Occupy Central to submit this proposal to the international standards allowing genuine choices government:” by electors, my stance is:”

Alliance for True Democracy Legislative Council should veto the proposal proposal Abstention/ not voted/ Abstention/ not others 4.6% voted/ others 9.2% Legislative Council People Power should not veto proposal 10.3% 42.1% the proposal 87.8% 7.6% Students proposal 38.4%

TOTAL VOTES Valid votes 792,808 Eliminated votes 13,174

Mobile app votes 486,142 Website votes 235,897 Local/overseas on-site voting 70,769

Source: Public Opinion Programme of the

Hong Kong media outlets. believe the Liaison Office coordinates and Department, an organ of the Communist Sometimes, these officials give what implements the strategy of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, whose mission are known as “soft warnings” not to report Party inside Hong Kong, although the hi- is to propagate the goals of the Party across sensitive topics, according to media sources erarchy, membership and structure of the non-party elites. and a report by the Hong Kong Journalists party in Hong Kong remain a secret. (See The Liaison Office’s Coordination and Association in 2013. related story) Social Group Liaison departments report In one case, a television journalist was Before the 1997 handover, the Chinese directly to Beijing’s United Front Work called by a Beijing official who mentioned Communist Party focused on courting Department, according to a source in fre- an interview the journalist was plan- businessmen, academics and activists to quent touch with Liaison Office staff, who ning. The journalist “learned that this was secure influence and loyalty. It has now be- declined to be named. a warning meaning that he was ‘being come more assertive, attempting to isolate “There is deeper penetration by the watched’ and that he should not conduct party enemies, silence critics, and deliver United Front in Hong Kong in recent sensitive interviews,” the report said. votes, Hong Kong scholars and a source years,” said Sonny Lo, an academic and close to the Liaison Office say. author of a book on China’s underground COMMUNIST PENETRATION The vehicle for this strategy is a Beijing- control of Hong Kong. “In part, the United Foreign diplomats and local academics based entity called the United Front Work Front is working to counter and adapt to

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the rise of democratic populism and as a Hong Kong police show that the group’s that opposed Hong Kong’s Tiananmen result we are seeing these new groups take chairman is Hung Wai-shing and the vice commemoration, are run by individuals to the streets. chairman is Lam Kwok-on. linked to a network of business chambers “United Front groups are being more Police and corporate filings also show and associations in Hong Kong, including heavily mobilized to not just support gov- Hung is a director of a New Territories some that are at the vanguard of United ernment policy but to counter rival forces.” clan association that researchers believe is Front work in the city, scholars say. A legacy of the earliest days of Leninist a core part of China’s United Front opera- The chairman of one of those groups, communist revolutionary theory, the tions in the city’s northern fringes close to the Voice of Loving Hong Kong, Patrick United Front Work Department’s mis- the Chinese border. Ko, is shown in company filings to be a di- sion is to influence and ultimately control Hung is also a director of several Hong rector of the Chinese General Chamber of a range of non-party groups, luring some Kong subsidiaries of Beijing Yanjing Commerce, which the researcher Lo iden- into cooperation and isolating and de- Brewery Co. Ltd, a state-owned Chinese tified as an organisation under the United nouncing others, according to scholars of brewery that stock exchange filings show is Front umbrella in Hong Kong. Communist history. in turn majority owned by two investment Ko denied any ties to Beijing’s United “The tactics and techniques of the vehicles ultimately tied to the Beijing city Front Work Department. He said his United Front have been refined and per- government. group and the Chinese General Chamber fected over the decades and we are seeing of Commerce were “run by Hong Kong a very modern articulation of it in Hong It was clear he wanted people”. Kong,” says Frank Dikotter, a Hong Kong secrets – gossip and views about SECRET AGENTS University historian and author of nine (Hong Kong) relationships and books on Chinese history. Behind the scenes, agents from Beijing’s The United Front - like the Communist trends and what might be going powerful Ministry of State Security are also Party itself - doesn’t exist as a registered on at the Holy See. expanding China’s reach into Hong Kong, body in Hong Kong. There is no publicly diplomats and members of various profes- available information about its network or Priest recalling a visit from a sions say. structure. Neither the United Front Work Ministry of State Security agent The Ministry of State Security sits at Department in Beijing, nor the Liaison the apex of China’s vast security apparatus, Office in Hong Kong, responded to ques- Reports in the Ta Kung Pao and Wen responsible for both domestic and external tions from Reuters about the purported ac- Wei Po newspapers in Hong Kong - both secret intelligence operations. tivities of the Front in Hong Kong. mouthpieces for Beijing - have described Professionals in Hong Kong have been But it is possible to trace links from some Hung socialising with Liaison Office of- invited, often discreetly through intermedi- grassroots groups to mainland-owned busi- ficials in the New Territories. aries, to “drink tea” with agents. nesses and the Liaison office. Hung denied any connection to the The visits of these agents, who travel A Reuters examination of the societies youth association when Reuters visited him into Hong Kong on short-term permits, registration documents for the Care for the at his Yanjing Beer office in Hong Kong’s have become more frequent and their tac- Youth Group Association obtained from Fanling district. tics more assertive, say multiple sources “What you refer to, the Care for the who have had contacts with such agents. REUTERS TV Youth association, I tell you I’m not in- Their targets include Hong Kong-based volved,” said Hung, a lean, middle-aged priests, journalists, lawyers, businessmen, man with bushy eyebrows and thinning academics and politicians. hair, who then called the police to complain Two sources told Reuters the agents of- about being questioned. fer gifts in exchange for information and Youth care association Vice-chairman favours. Lam is a regular at the anti-Falun Gong “They said they have an unlimited bud- protests on Sogo corner. He ignored ques- get” for gifts, said one Hong Kong-based tions from Reuters about his role with the professional in regular contact with agents. See the video: http://reut.rs/1mM5k6p youth association at a recent demonstration. Two priests said they received repeat- Other street groups, including the one ed visits from State Security agents after

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RED STAR OVER HONG KONG: A ferry passes in front of the headquarters of the People’s Liberation Army in Hong Kong. REUTERS/BOBBY YIP

recent tensions between China and the answer calls to its main telephone number Lau, however, would not be deterred. Vatican stemming from China’s moves to in Beijing; the government does not dis- “People can see we only want to make ordain bishops without the consent of the close other contact numbers for the minis- ourselves heard. Hong Kong should give us Holy See. try to foreign reporters. that freedom.” One priest recalled meeting a young and While the battle for influence contin- polite agent who “said he was a friend who ues, there is no let up on Sogo Corner for Additional reporting by Yimou Lee, and the wanted to help” while making it clear he Lau Wai-hing and her fellow Falun Gong Hong Kong and Beijing newsrooms. Editing was reporting to Beijing for State Security. devotees. by David Lague and Bill Tarrant “It was clear he wanted secrets – gossip On a recent Saturday, not far from where and views about (Hong Kong) relation- Lau was standing, members of the Care for FOR MORE INFORMATION ships and trends and what might be going the Youth Group Association held a “want- Greg Torode on at the Holy See,” said the priest who de- ed” poster carrying Lau’s photograph with [email protected] clined to be identified. the words “evil cult member” below it. James Pomfret In recent months, the agents have been Lam, the group’s vice chairman, raised [email protected] asking about the Catholic Church’s sup- his portable loudspeaker rigged to a car bat- Bill Tarrant, Enterprise Editor port for the Occupy Central movement, tery. “Wipe out the evil cult Falun Gong,” [email protected] two priests said. he shouted, his voice reverberating down Michael Williams, Global Enterprise Editor The Ministry of State Security did not the busy street. [email protected]

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