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Chinese police generate “sex scandal” against Hong Kong election candidate
By John Chan
August 30, 2004
In what has all the hallmarks of a political set-up, Chinese police have
arrested Alex Ho, a Democratic Party candidate in the upcoming Legislative
Council elections in Hong Kong, on charges of soliciting a prostitute. The
46-year-old Ho was detained in a police raid in the early hours of August 13 in
the southern city of Dongguang. He was allegedly found in a hotel room with
Zhou, a 25-year-old woman.
Ho and Zhou are now facing six months of “reform through labour” detention
under a sweeping administrative provision that allows Chinese police to hold
minor offenders without trial. The mainland and Hong Kong media immediately
reported the “sex scandal” and the lurid details provided by a Chinese police
spokesman who claimed Ho, “had sex with a woman in a hotel room and a money
transaction was involved”.
After speaking to Ho, Democratic Party official Fred Li told the media that Ho
had only signed a confession because police threatened to charge him with rape
if he refused. “From the way that the mainland security police handled the
case, there are a lot of suspicious points.... We are shocked and disturbed by
this, especially the speed with which he was jailed without trial,” Li said.
The Hong Kong-based Mingpao Daily on August 17 published statements that it
claimed were written by Ho and Zhou. Ho admitted to having a relationship with
Zhou but insisted that he had met her in June. Both denied that there had been
any financial negotiations before having sex. Ho is a sales manager for a
Japanese garment company that sources its goods from the Humen district of
Dongguang city.
None of the allegations against Ho have been proven. Moreover, it is very
unusual for a first-time offender to be jailed for soliciting a prostitute, let
alone for such a lengthy period. While prostitution is illegal in China, it is
rampant, especially in relatively prosperous regions like Guangdong Province
where young women from poorer areas come to find a living. Local governments
and police generally turn a blind eye, that is, if they are not actually
running the rackets directly.
The purpose of the police raid that netted Ho was not to shut down prostitution
in Dongguang city. A reporter for the Asia Times rang four of the “prostitution
black holes” in Humen district that the police had supposedly closed during the
raid. According to the article on August 18, these restaurants and karaoke bars
were operating as normal.
Under Hong Kong’s Basic Law, Ho cannot stand as a candidate if he is jailed for
more than three months. The Hong Kong Justice Department issued a statement
last week declaring that Ho would not be disqualified from standing because his
detention was administrative and not the result of a criminal prosecution. At
the very least, however, Ho’s jailing is aimed at undermining his reputation
and that of the Democratic Party as well as preventing him from participating
in the election campaign.
Ho’s detention is a sharp warning of the methods that Beijing will use in the
lead up to Legislative Council elections on September 12. While only half of
the seats are to be elected, the Chinese leadership is concerned that the
Democratic Party will win most of them and thus put pressure on the
administration headed by its appointee, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.
Beijing fears above all the growing opposition of ordinary working people in
Hong Kong to its anti-democratic methods and to declining living standards. On
July 1, 2003, half a million people protested against Tung’s attempts to impose
draconian new anti-subversion laws that would have enabled police to crack down
on organisations illegalised under China’s police state laws. Tung was
compelled to back off but he is deeply unpopular. In local district council
elections last November, the Democratic Party won 92 seats, compared to 62 for
the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB).
On July 1 this year, hundreds of thousands of people took part in huge protests
against Beijing’s decision in April to rule out full direct elections for
Tung’s post of chief executive in 2007 and the Legislative Council in 2008.
Despite the efforts of the Democratic Party to appease Beijing and defuse
tensions, the Stalinist bureaucracy has made no concessions, fearing that the
granting of democratic rights in Hong Kong will lead to similar demands and
protests in mainland China itself.
Before and after this year’s protest, Beijing resorted to a variety of methods
aimed at intimidating the Hong Kong population. A number of residents have
reported receiving strange telephone calls from their relatives on the mainland
urging them to vote for pro-Beijing parties in the Legislative Council
election. Three outspoken radio hosts resigned, claiming that they had received
death threats from “patriotic forces”. On August 1, in an unmistakable show of
force, the Chinese military held its first ever parade of troops and armoured
vehicles through Hong Kong.
The Chinese leadership’s view of Hong Kong’s “democracy” was summed up in an
interview with Chen Zuoer, a senior official in charge of Hong Kong affairs,
with the Xinhua news agency on August 21. “If we aren’t confident that direct
elections will produce leaders who are patriotic and love Hong Kong, then Hong
Kong doesn’t meet the criteria for having direct elections. If there are people
who want to turn Hong Kong into a base for opposing the mainland government
under the pretence of democracy, what do you do?” he exclaimed. Then came the
answer: “You have to interfere.”
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Hong
Kong candidate 'arrested in sex sting'
8-18-2004
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