www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

US EUROPE AFRICA ASIA 中文
Opinion / Op-Ed Contributors

Defending the rule of law

By Zhou Bajun (China Daily) Updated: 2014-08-18 07:44

Rules on political donations in HKSAR need to be tightened to require political organizations to declare the funds they get

Recently, local media revealed documents which showed that Next Media Chairman Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has maintained close ties with right-wing politicians in the United States. They also showed that Lai has continuously given financial support to the opposition camp. He gave the "Occupy Central" campaign about HK$3.5 million ($451,591) to help them hold their contrived online vote last month. Lai also paid for some of the Occupy organizers to visit Taiwan to meet "Taiwan independence" activists. The documents include e-mail messages from Lai's top aide Mark Simon and others, as well as copies of receipts of money transfers. Clearly, the "opposition" maintains relationships with foreign powers who want to destabilize China.

But the opposition camp still insists it has done nothing illegal according to Hong Kong law. Some opposition politicians argue that because Hong Kong is a cosmopolitan city with close ties to the West, it is normal for Hongkongers to have such contacts with foreigners.

The opposition camp has always consistently challenged the rule of law in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Consequently, more effective measures are needed to safeguard the rule of law. These should start by focusing on the Legislative Council. New legislation needs to be introduced to improve the financial transparency of the Legislative Council.

First, regulations on donations for political organizations should be tightened. Take the case of lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan, who heads the Labour Party. Lee kept a large donation from Lai in his personal bank account for nine months before transferring it to the party's bank account. This occurred shortly after the secret donations came to light. Radical lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung, who is a co-founder of the League of Social Democrats, has admitted to receiving sizeable donations from Lai in recent years. But Leung, also known as "Long Hair", insisted this was to pay his legal expenses and those of his party. All this raises a very serious question: Do such donations constitute benefits for lawmakers and do the rules require they declare them?

The existing rules for declaring donations cover individuals rather than political organizations. Unless tougher regulations are introduced, the opposition camp will continue to avoid disclosing where they obtain their funding. Along with their irresponsible behavior, such as filibustering against government funding bills, their secrecy over donations is hurting the integrity of the Legislative Council.

Second, the line between lawful and unlawful behavior must be clarified. Some opposition lawmakers from the Civic Party and Democratic Party still deny having received donations from Lai. Supporters of opposition politicians are now expressing their concern about this. Commentator Michael Chugani noted in an opinion piece in the South China Morning Post on Aug 6 that: "White terror is all around us. It has happened not only to Joseph Cheng Yu-shek, convener of the Alliance for True Democracy; Tony Tsoi Tung-ho, founder of the now defunct House News website, and all the pan-democrats who received generous political donations from Apple Daily owner Jimmy Lai Chee-ying."

As far as opposition-leaning academic Joseph Cheng is concerned, he failed to inform the Immigration Department that he is now a foreign citizen. This was long after he obtained Australian citizenship. Cheng also apparently plagiarized material from a fellow academic's research. He is not only a person of questionable character, but clearly one who does not respect the law. Of course this partly explains why he is one of the founders of Occupy Central.

The closure of the House News website had nothing to do with political pressure. Its major stakeholder, Tony Tsoi, has openly admitted the website ran out of cash. But talk show host and current affairs commentator Albert Cheng came to a different conclusion. Cheng claimed in his column in the South China Morning Post on August 7: "House News' closure shows Beijing's desire for control of Hong Kong media." Cheng knew Tsoi's team used to provide editorial services to Apple Daily, managing a page of the business section of the newspaper for a fee. This was the main source of income for the website. Cheng also knew the service contract between Tsoi's team and Apple Daily had fallen to just one day a week. Somehow, he was convinced that Tsoi "could have approached potential buyers before going under". He, therefore, assumed money was not the key reason for the website closing down. So without any evidence, Cheng said in his column, "The real cause of death is obviously political."

Tsoi tried to make Cheng's accusation believable by saying in a statement: "As a businessman who frequently travels to and from the mainland, I have to admit that I felt very scared every time I crossed the border."

Why would he feel scared - unless he has done something wrong?

Tsoi was among the first 10 professionals to say he would join "Occupy". Now everybody knows Occupy Central is an illegal movement. Its organizers said from the start that it was a political "nuclear device" capable of paralyzing Hong Kong's financial business hub. The aim is to pressure Beijing into meeting the opposition's demands. This will of course be at the expense of many businesses and workers in Central. So who is really spreading "white terror"?

The author is a veteran current affairs commentator.

Most Viewed Today's Top News
...
主站蜘蛛池模板: 国产成人精品视频一区 | 久久怡红院国产精品 | 日本美女高清在线观看免费 | 日本毛片免费看 | 最新国产美女一区二区三区 | 男人的天堂亚洲 | 成人禁在线观看午夜亚洲 | 亚洲自偷自偷图片在线高清 | 寡妇野外啪啪一区二区 | 亚洲九九香蕉 | 911精品国产91久久久久 | 欧美日本在线三级视频 | 91亚洲国产成人久久精品网址 | 欧美激情欧美狂野欧美精品免费 | 精品在线小视频 | 在线看免费观看韩国特黄一级 | 欧美一级va在线视频免费播放 | 国产成人免费 | 一级毛片在线观看视频 | 国产免费人成在线看视频 | 亚洲成a人片在线观看精品 亚洲成a人片在线观看中 | 国产成人精品免费 | 久久怡红院 | 国产精品videosse | 国产亚洲精品一区二区三区 | 三级黄网 | 日本高清免费视频www | 日韩欧美一及在线播放 | 国产成人亚洲合集青青草原精品 | 国产午夜精品一区二区三区不卡 | 国产一区二区亚洲精品天堂 | a毛片免费播放全部完整 | 男人天堂1024| 国产女乱淫真高清免费视频 | 毛片免费看 | 国产男女爽爽爽爽爽视频 | 欧美精品午夜久久久伊人 | 99精品视频在线观看re | 未满14周岁啪啪网站 | 国产精品深爱在线 | 亚洲乱码一区二区三区国产精品 |