Has Martin Lee Chu-ming been got at? On Monday he described the Nato bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade as 'a very serious tampering with Chinese sovereignty'. Two days later, in the Legislative Council, he gave what sounded like a watered-down version of the White House line. Rather strange. But at least it shows there is one person in Hong Kong who believes the tragedy was a genuine accident.
It may have been one of the worst gaffes in the history of warfare, but it is not exactly unprecedented. During the Gulf War, the United States bombed two of its allies' infantry vehicles, killing nine British soldiers.
Democrat Cheung Man-kwong happened to be among the tens of thousands of respondents in a government survey trying to establish the number of right of abode claimants in the mainland. Not surprisingly, the outspoken legislator was recognised by the pollster when he opened the door.
Mr Cheung, also a core member of the Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement of China, joked that he could not have had children in the mainland as Beijing would not even allow him to cross the border. But the pollster insisted he complete the survey.
He was asked to declare the number of taxi rides he took over the past week instead of the number of illegitimate children he had in the mainland under the random response technique. But the frequent taxi passenger was forced to give a false reply as the census only allowed answers ranging from zero to three. Now isn't that a fascinating insight into the scholastic scrupulousness of government fact-finding? Frantic calls were made by the Canadian Consulate last Friday to get in touch with its head, Colin Russel, who was about to take a flight to Toronto at Chek Lap Kok.
The consul-general was scheduled to depart one day early for home to roll out the red carpet for the first official visit of Tung Chee-hwa to Canada.
