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Martin Wong

Local delegates to the National People's Congress will decide this week whether to condemn Xinjiang authorities' treatment of three Hong Kong journalists.
 On September 4, TVB senior reporter Lam Tsz-ho, his cameraman Lau Wing-chuen and Now TV cameraman Lam Chun-wai were tied up, handcuffed and beaten by police while covering protests in Urumqi over syringe attacks.
NPC deputy Miriam Lau Kin-yee,  who is chairwoman of the broadly Beijing-loyalist Liberal Party, said  yesterday that the incident had shaken Hong Kong's confidence in the mainland legal system.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association and the Foreign Correspondents Club will co-host a march from Western district police station to the central government's liaison office at 1pm today  to voice their anger and demand an apology from Xinjiang over the arrests and beatings of the three journalists. 
'We hope the central government can carry out a thorough investigation into the matter and respond positively to the concerns of Hong Kong people,' Lau said.
Her call came a day after Ta Kung Pao,  Hong Kong's main pro-Beijing newspaper, urged Xinjiang authorities to clarify its 'fabricated' and 'groundless' accusation that the journalists had incited protesters.
Another NPC deputy, Ip Kwok-him, deputy chairman of the Beijing-friendly Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said  the accusation was serious but groundless.
'The police beat people and it was unacceptable,' he said.  
NPC deputy Professor Priscilla Lau Pui- king,  an expert on the mainland's economy at  Polytechnic University,  said the incident showed there were many cultural differences between Hong Kong and the mainland.
'The central government has begun enhancing transparency,' she said. 'But then when there is a disaster that may involve maladministration by provincial governments, officials may try their best to cover it up.'
She added that she did not believe the journalists had done anything wrong.
The three deputies agreed to bring the issue up at the local NPC delegates' regular meeting this week. 'We will see if we will have a joint declaration. We will decide after the meeting,' Ip said.
Journalists' association chairwoman Mak Yin-ting said it was rare for conservative NPC delegates to be so outspoken.
'The incident not only angered the media but people from all walks of life,' she said. 'The matter really touches the core values of Hong Kong people - freedom of the press and the right to seek the truth.' 
The association and Internet Society Hong Kong will mobilise the internet community to voice their views over the incident.
'We want people in Hong Kong to give more thought and have a deeper understanding of the incident,' society chairman Charles Mok said. 'We do not want to just collect signatures but to get people to use the internet to talk about the matter.'
Mok said there were about 100,000 bloggers in Hong Kong and they would spread the message to them from today.



Deputies angry over journalists' treatment