950818

HK media

to be free

after '97

HONG KONG: China will not interfere in Hong Kong media after the takeover in 1997, but wants the local industry to be "truthful" in their reports, a high-ranking Beijing official was reported on Friday as saying.

Wang Fengchao, deputy director of China's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, told a delegation from the Hong Kong Newspaper Society in Beijing on Thursday that China would not give directives or guidelines to Hong Kong media after 1997, and only urged the media to exercise "self-discipline."

"Hong Kong media must simply adhere to the relevant policies and regulations governing news reporting," he was quoted as saying in the local press.

Wang said cartoons or articles satirizing or criticising Chinese leaders could still be allowed after 1997, but not at the expense of social stability.

He dismissed reports that existing periodicals critical of China in the territory would be banned then, saying their existence mainly depended on their "financial conditions."-AFP