DRL OFFICER RANA SIU'S VISIT TO HONG KONG: CIVIL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HONG KONG 001252 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP AND EAP/CM NSC FOR DENNIS WILDER E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2031 TAGS: PGOV PREL HK CH PINR PHUM ELAB SUBJECT: DRL OFFICER RANA SIU'S VISIT TO HONG KONG: CIVIL SOCIETY DEVELOPMENTS (PART 2 OF 2) Classified By: E/P Chief Simon Schuchat. Reasons: 1.4(b,d). ¶1. (C) During a March 13-16 visit to Hong Kong, DRL Foreign Affairs Officer Rana Siu discussed civil society and political party developments with Hong Kong-based NGOs. According to the National Democratic Institute (NDI),the pro-Government parties have become more skittish about participating in NDI programs. Civic Exchange, a local think tank, believed local sensitivity over ties to NDI was related to Hong Kong's election cycle. Anthony Cheung, Executive Council member and Synergynet founder, said local pro-Beijing groups were concerned about NDI because they sometimes confused the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) -- which has a controversial reputation in China and Hong Kong -- with NDI. A University of Hong Kong pollster emphasized the importance of improving the standards for conducting and reporting on polls in Hong Kong. Separately, a Democratic Party (DP) member explained that the party wanted to re-shape its image in order to reconnect with disillusioned voters. Siu also met with the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, the Hong Kong Policy Research Institute, and the International Republican Institute. This is the second of two cables discussing Siu's meetings in Hong Kong. NDI: "Politics is Extracurricular" -------------- ¶2. (C) On March 14, Christine Chung, National Democratic Institute's (NDI) Director of China programs said that over the past year, the two pro-Government parties, the Liberal Party (LP) and the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB),had become more skittish about participating in NDI programs. The local media had published some articles critical of NDI and had caused some parties and organizations to be reluctant about associating with the NGO. While the Democratic Party (DP) was less concerned about these accusations, they also had less time than before to attend optional training sessions, explained Chung. The DP recently required potential district council candidates to attend a half-day, DP-sponsored, political theory and campaign training workshop, held every other Saturday. Regarding the development of political parties in Hong Kong, Chung was critical, saying that for some elected officials, "politics is extracurricular." With many politicians working full time jobs, and participating in numerous government and charity commissions, there was little time left for party development. Civic Exchange: Entering the Mainland -------------- ¶3. (C) On March 14, Christine Loh, Chief Executive Officer of Civic Exchange, said local sensitivity over ties to NDI was related to Hong Kong's election cycle. She noted that in the run-up to the September 2004 legislative council elections, NDI was criticized in pro-Beijing newspapers. In the post election period, however, NDI was able to co-sponsor, along with several pro-Beijing newspapers and organizations, a July 2005 Civic Exchange forum entitled "The New Chief Executive's Platform." While some NGOs were concerned about the negative publicity and hostility from the pro-Beijing media, Loh said that as long as Civic Exchange was transparent about its programs and associations, it had nothing to defend or worry about. Questions over NDI's role in Hong Kong had nothing to do with the quality of the NDI programs, Loh added. ¶4. (C) Hong Kong was a launch pad for civil society work on the mainland, contended Loh. In partnership with Plowshares Institute, a Connecticut-based NGO that addresses conflict resolution issues, Civic Exchange has been promoting "alternative democracy skills" in Nanjing. Civic Exchange Researcher Yan Yan Yip explained that by holding half-day workshops on conflict management using local case studies, Civic Exchange hoped that mainland participants in the workshops would be able to create a more respectful relationship between people and authority. While it was important to build democracy, it was not necessary to call it by that label, said Loh. In her words it was also important to "strengthen the pillars of democracy, not just elections." ¶5. (C) In order to better understand the term "democracy," Civic Exchange hopes to commission Hong Kong-based mainland scholars to write about democracy, and particularly about democracy within the Chinese Communist party. Separately, Loh predicted that there would be a "revival" of the debate over Asian values (as championed by former Singaporean Prime HONG KONG 00001252 002 OF 003 Minister Lee Kuan Yew) versus the universal definition of democracy. In preparation, Loh suggested asking scholars from China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Indonesia to write about the meaning of democracy, each from their own cultural perspective. Simon Lee: Democratic Party Needs Image Makeover -------------- -------------- ¶6. (C) Simon Lee, HSBC Global Markets Manager and DP member, told Siu on March 14 that he had participated in NDI programs because he was interested in politics. Lee found the "Young Political Leaders Communications Training Program" to be useful and inspirational in thinking about his own participation in the Democratic Party. While some of the other workshop participants criticized the lack of a more localized agenda, Lee said he enjoyed learning about how people communicated, campaigned, and so on in other political systems and cultures. Lee did note that because the NDI program was conducted in English (with Chinese translation available),some party members were reluctant to participate due to their poor English language proficiency. NDI should continue to invite other political parties "for balance," suggested Lee. Overall, Lee was pleased with the NDI workshops, saying it was one of the "only times that all of the parties can get together and talk" informally. ¶7. (C) While Lee had no short-term plans to run for office, he is involved in re-shaping the DP's public image. When asked if the reforms were meant to distinguish the DP from the newly formed Civic Party, Lee responded that he hoped the image makeover would narrow the gap between the DP and the Civic Party and help the party to reconnect with voters. Acknowledging the DP's low approval ratings, Lee said that he wanted to help the party use its members' time and energy more effectively. Another goal of the image makeover was to re-shape the perception of the DP as a one-issue party and to get the message out that the party also had strong economic policies. Synergynet: Anthony Cheung -------------- ¶8. (C) Anthony Cheung, Executive Council member and Synergynet founder, stated on March 15 that local pro-Beijing groups were concerned about contacts with the NDI because they sometimes confused it with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED),which has a controversial reputation in China and Hong Kong. However, Cheung said that as long as NDI's work was transparent, there would not be a problem. Cheung said he had advised NDI to open its workshops to all political parties to avoid being perceived as partisan. ¶9. (C) The July 1, 2003 demonstration was a real turning point for many young people, said Cheung, and has motivated many to local activism. While some young Hong Kongers were still cynical and distrusted the political establishment, they were now more willing to develop new civil society groups as an alternative to politics. Cheung said he recently started an informal civil society dinner with several other NGOs and organizations, including the Roundtable (also known as the Hong Kong Avant-garde Policy Research Institute and the 30s Group, two groups for young professionals interested in community issues. Cheung said there were tentative plans to create a website as a clearinghouse for information on civil society. ¶10. (C) Cheung also discussed his role as an Executive Council (Exco) member. While some democrats questioned whether he had compromised his democratic values by joining the Exco, Cheung saw his participation in the Exco as a positive development. By appointing a democrat, the Government had proven itself to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Moreover, he believed Chief Executive Donald Tsang must have had Beijing's tacit approval to include a SIPDIS democrat in the Exco. When asked why he thought he was "acceptable" to Beijing, Cheung responded that he was one of the few people to have maintained links with Beijing both before and after the handover. Separately, Cheung exhorted Hong Kong to not react defensively about its relationship with China. "Hong Kong must have enough confidence that it won't be absorbed by the mainland," because the city had its own core values and institutional strengths. Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor: Cyd Ho -------------- HONG KONG 00001252 003 OF 003 ¶11. (C) On March 15, Cyd Ho, Chairperson of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor said that two of her colleagues, though not affiliated with any political party, had participated in NDI's District Council Candidate Campaign School in February ¶2006. Both were pleased with the training. Ho had learned from her colleagues that Tony Liu Kit-ming, Chairman of the Local Inspectors' Association (a local police union) had also attended the workshop. She expressed concern that the participation of an active-duty policeman at a campaign training workshop might be a possible conflict of interest. Ho brought Liu's participation to the attention of a "South China Morning Post" (SCMP) journalist. A March 7 article in the SCMP pointed out that under civil service rules, officers serving in the government could not participate in elections. However, Liu told the SCMP that he was encouraging police colleagues on the verge of retirement, not active-duty officers, to consider running in next year's district council elections. Ho added that she had raised concerns about this issue to Emily Lau, legislator and Convenor of The Frontier. According to Ho, Lau agreed that there might be a possible conflict of interest issue and promised to raise the issue in the legislature. Robert Chung: Polling Standards Need to be Improved -------------- -------------- ¶12. (C) On March 15, Robert Chung, Program Director of the Public Opinion Program (POP) at the University of Hong Kong, explained that all of Hong Kong's political parties had internal polling units. However, because many of the polls released by the parties did not include information about their survey methodology, he could not assess the quality of their survey conclusions. According to Chung, local journalists were not serious or professional about polls and that "it pays for them to release substandard polls." Journalists were often under pressure by editors to report stories and were less interested in checking the validity of the polls, lamented Chung. He noted that NDI had sponsored a two-hour workshop, entitled "20 Questions a Journalist Should Ask About Poll Results." The workshop emphasized the importance of professional standards for conducting and reporting on polls. While he had observed that the pro-Beijing political parties had become more skeptical of affiliating with NDI, especially around election time, the POP program was happy to continue to work on future projects together with NDI. ¶13. (C) Chung said that since 1991, the media, government and political parties were forbidden by election guidelines to reveal exit poll results before the close of polling stations at 10:30 pm and added that violators faced possible censure. However, during the last Legco election, it was clear that the DAB ran their own exit polls and had a more accurate picture of election results than the other parties. The DP acknowledged that they had not run their own exit polls, leading to some disappointing results among democratic candidates. Former DP Chairman Martin Lee's last minute call for votes ultimately led to independent democrat Cyd Ho's loss in the Hong Kong Island geographic constituency. According to Chung, the DP said that from a principled standpoint, they had not run their own exit polls to avoid "election engineering." However, the political parties are currently considering whether or not to imitate the DAB in running polls during the next election. Previously, Chung said that the POP had conducted exit polls, but only released the results after 10:30 pm. Chung is currently considering publishing this data throughout the election day so that all political parties would have access to this data. Chung has not worked out the details with the HKG or even thought about funding, but he is considering approaching NDI as a possible sponsor for this project. ¶14. (C) On March 14, Siu had an unaccompanied meeting with Amy Gadsden, International Republican Institute's Resident Country Director for China. On March 16, Dr. Peter Pun, Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong Policy Research Institute (HKPRI) provided Siu with an overview of the institute's mission, programs, and funding sources. Pun explained that Paul Yip, HKPRI Chairman provided the "seed money" for the establishment of the Roundtable. ¶15. (U) DRL Foreign Affairs Officer Siu cleared this message. Cunningham