Curtis Chin says with growing concern about press freedom in much of Asia, Beijing has a chance, as host of this year's Apec forum, to reveal to the world a more transparent side. It can start by improving how it deals with the media
When the Hong Kong government tersely announced this week that the central government had decided to change the location and timing of a key meeting of Apec finance ministers from Hong Kong to Beijing this September, the rumours began to fly.
Beijing, some speculated, might have been worried about the potential for protests during the high-profile meeting. Others saw it as a sign of the ongoing gradual erosion of Hong Kong's special status and role as China's premier international financial hub. After all, Beijing's change of mind comes just five months after it had agreed to let Hong Kong, still touted as Asia's "world city", run the event. That, though, was before debate had intensified in the special administrative region over necessary electoral reforms to bring about universal suffrage in 2017.