UNDER SECRETARY KAREN HUGHES' VISIT TO HONG KONG

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HONG KONG 000256 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR ECA AND EAP/CM NSC FOR WILDER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL SCUL OVIP HK KPAO SUBJECT: UNDER SECRETARY KAREN HUGHES' VISIT TO HONG KONG ¶1. SUMMARY: U/S Karen P. Hughes put in one very busy day of active and extremely effective public diplomacy outreach in Hong Kong on Jan. 23, both jointly with American Public Diplomacy Envoy Michelle Kwan in programs pitched to youth and Hong Kong's elite, and separately in a meeting with the Hong Kong government Home Affairs Secretary and a half hour Television interview with Hong Kong Cable SIPDIS TV. END SUMMARY. Hong Kong Girl Guides -------------- ¶2. Together with American Public Diplomacy Envoy Michelle Kwan (whose whole program is reported septel),U/S Hughes attended an informal luncheon hosted by the DPO with representatives from the Hong Kong Girl Guides Association. Participants included 11 teenaged Girl Guides (all veterans of international leadership camps)and Members of the Girl Guides Board of Directors, including Board President (and wife of Hong Kong's Chief Executive) Selina Tsang, Macau gaming magnate Stanley Ho, and numerous winners of Hong SIPDIS Kong's prestigious Bauhinia Award recognizing charitable and social work benefiting all of Hong Kong society. The discussion among the participants was free-flowing, lively, and wide-ranging on leadership, setting goals, shared cultural values, family values, and different international experiences. Ms. Kwan and U/S Hughes had a wonderful exchange with these current and future leaders of Hong Kong, culminating in the participants agreeing on the desirability of instituting an annual friendship exchange between girls from Hong Kong and America on the model of a Hong Kong-PRC "friendship caravan" in 2006 described by one the board members, or of including American participants in future "friendship caravans.". Meeting with Home Secretary -------------- ¶3. (SBU) U/S Hughes then went to the HKSAR Government Offices for a meeting with Secretary of Home Affairs Patrick Ho. American participants were U/S Hughes, CG James B. Cunningham, R Col. Chris Krisinger, PAO Anthony Hutchinson, and R Katye Balls. Hong Kong participants were Home Secretary Ho, his Principal Asst. Sec. Jenny Yip, administrative assistant Kevin Yeung, and staffer John Chan. After welcoming introductions and greetings during which U/S Hughes described PD Envoy Kwan's program, Secretary Ho and U/S Hughes both discussed the importance of youth heroes in the formation of young people's values and direction in life, and reflected on how exchanges involving such heroes, including sports stars, can advance mutual understanding and sympathy between the youth of different nations. Ho gave Hughes a brief rundown on Hong Kong's preparations to host the equestrian events during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics; Hughes replied by noting that the Olympics were not only a great sports event, but also a marvelous opportunity for China to showcase its modernization to the world while further opening up to foreign media. ¶4. (SBU) Ho then gave an overview of his ministry's work, characterizing himself as Hong Kong's "people's minister." He summarized preparations for the celebration of the Special Administrative Region's ten year anniversary on July 1, 2007, eliciting a strong statement of support from U/S Hughes of the high degree of autonomy promised in Hong Kong's Basic Law and China's "one country, two systems" approach. U/S Hughes was able to emphasize to Secretary Ho the importance to the U.S. of Hong Kong as an international city, noting the large number of American firms and more than 55,000 American citizens residing in the territory. Allen Lee TV Interview -------------- ¶5. U/S Hughes then prepared for and gave an on-camera interview with Allen Lee, host of Cable TV's "Feichang Zhengjing" (Unusual Political Perspectives) program. Lee focused his questioning on U.S. policy in Iraq and the Middle East; after the interview Lee expressed satisfaction that his questions had been answered directly and frankly. A complete transcript has been forwarded to EAP; the program will air Saturday January 27 at 7:30 pm local time. (Cable TV has 800,000 subscribers and the estimated regular minimum audience of Lee's program is 25,000. The program is particularly popular among Hong Kong's political and business elites.) Consul General Reception; Thanks to Deep Pockets -------------- --- ¶6. Consul General James B. Cunningham hosted an evening reception for both U/S Hughes and Ms. Kwan the evening of January 23. About 80 of Hong Kong's leaders in business, media, the arts, education, and sports attended. Interaction between the visitors and local guests was particularly warm and cordial. HONG KONG 00000256 002 OF 002 ¶7. (SBU) In a private pull-aside during the reception, U/S Hughes and Consul General Cunningham were able to give formal thanks to Po Chung, founder of DHL Asia and recent contributor of USD 1 million to the Fulbright Program, a contribution that was matched by the Hong Kong Government. The resulting USD 2 million Hong Kong Fulbright General Education Program seeks over the next three years to build general education in Hong Kong's universities as a means of fostering civil society and democratic governance in the territory. Later in the reception, Po Chung privately expressed to Consulate staff his pleasure at the small thank-you ceremony, which included the director of the Hong Kong America Centre, who will administer the program together with IIE. Themes Addressed; Washington Support -------------- ¶8. Global themes addressed during the day-long program included: International Understanding, Counter-Terrorism, Regional Security, Democracy and Human Rights, Environmental Protection. Consulate Hong Kong thanks our colleagues in ECA, EAP/CM, EAP/PD, and R for their invaluable assistance in setting up the U/S Hughes' program, which in our minds is a model of what Public Diplomacy programming is all about. CUNNINGHAM