It is most alarming to hear deputy director of the local Xinhua (the New China News Agency) Zhang Junsheng suggesting that the agency should retain most of its functions after the July 1 handover.
Contrary to popular belief that the importance of the local Xinhua will diminish after the establishment of the Special Administrative Region (SAR), Mr Zhang asserted that the agency would continue to play a crucial role.
He further claimed that 'the SAR will handle matters of its own and Xinhua will continue to play the roles delegated by the central Government'.
Mr Zhang said his office could be in charge of supervising local journalists' applications to cover news on China, producing studies on Hong Kong, liaising between local and mainland organisations, handling relations with Taiwan, etc.
But it can easily be argued that there is no justification for the agency to continue to operate with the same scale as it does today.
Many Hong Kong people will be extremely puzzled why these functions cannot be handled by the SAR government and should still be left to an agency which was established at a unique time with a unique mission.
The Basic Law says that the SAR government shall come directly under the central people's Government. After July 1 the SAR government will have no need to liaise with the central Government and mainland organisations through a middleman. The SAR government can process journalists' applications to report in the mainland. It is more efficient for Hong Kong officials to produce or compile studies on the territory to the central Government. And it is more appropriate that the Hong Kong administration should also build up its own network with organisations in the mainland by taking over the liaising functions of the local Xinhua.