MEMORANDUM TO: OPINION LEADERS

FROM: CHRISTOPHER MALETZ, Assistant Director

SUBJECT: Hong Kong

Sunday, Hong Kong immigration officials detained distinguished American academic and Princeton professor Perry Link for questioning upon his arrival in Hong Kong. After being interrogated at length about his activities regarding the mainland, Professor Link was eventually allowed to enter the city. Ironically, Professor Link, the co-editor of the Tiananmen Papers, was coming to Hong Kong to speak about the ways Beijing pressures academics and journalists into self-censorship.

Professor Link’s detention follows on the heels of Hong Kong’s refusal last Friday to allow Harry Wu -- former dissident, a critic of China’s human rights practices and a U.S. citizen -- entry into the city for a speaking engagement.

Under the terms of an existing agreement between Hong Kong and the United States, Hong Kong has no grounds for refusing entry to Mr. Wu or threatening the same in the case of Professor Link. The State Department should protest their treatment publicly and insist that Hong Kong abide by the terms of the existing accord. And if Hong Kong does not, the administration should begin to deny selected Hong Kong officials the right to visit the United States until such time as Hong Kong is in compliance with the agreement.

When London agreed to return Hong Kong to Beijing’s control in 1997, it did so with the understanding that the guiding formula would be: “one country, two systems.” Today, incidents like the above, combined with the slow strangling of the free-market and political reforms within the city, suggest a more apt description of the relationship between the former British colony and mainland China will soon be “one country, one system.”