From: cw@orion.uucp (C.W. Chung)
Subject: Re: HK Interests & U.S. Elections
Organization: Objectivity Inc.
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 18:14:39 GMT

    >In article <Jul.28.10.04.15.1992.11778@andromeda.rutgers.edu> <lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu> writes:
    >>Last night I had dinner with one of my former students at Chinese University,
    >>now visiting the United States.  She and her friends from Hong Kong talked
    >>about the U.S. elections extensively, heavily from a Republican point of view.
    >>Bush came across as their savior, Clinton-Gore as a pair of goons.
    
    >>Is theirs the view being played out in the Hong Kong media?  They mentioned 
    >>that they watch CNN, but I gathered that their views are shaped more by the
    >>local HK media.  

 Yes, more by the local HK media. In this particular case, the media does refelct
 what most people think (or you could also argue that the media shape the mass opininon).

    >>They seemed completely uninterested in any of the domestic issues addressed
    >>at the Democratic Convention.  They see the American presidency as strictly
    >>an international role, accountable to Hong Kong workers and U.S. workers
    >>alike, only through service to international corporations in a completely
    >>free market place.    Is theirs the typical HK view?

A lot of the burning issues in USA are non-issues in HK, so it more difficult
to relate to the domestic US issues.  Abortion is a hot topic here.  In HK 
(and China) where the population pressure is so great, you don't have
any choice.   The importance of environment is begun to be noticed, but whenever
there is a conflict between environment and economic development, the choice is
usally clear - people need to make a living and economic prosperity usually comes
first.  The HK society is quite polarized in wealth, and there a lot of (relatively) 
poor people, but they have grown up to rely on themselves to solve their problem,
not rely on the government.  There is little racial problem as acute as in USA,
and there is no inner-city neighborhood like NYC.  The education system is always
under criticism and review and is nothing new.  Traffic congestion is a matter of
life in a big city.  Women had done reasonably well in HK - there are a number of
high level government officials who are female.  There is no worry of budget deficit
as the government always could find way to have surplus.  The inflation is high, so 
people identify with USA's target of keeping inflation low.   Otherwise, in a growing 
economy (double-digit at times), people tend to feel good, and indeed even the poor
people seemed to have fared better.   Not only that, if China keeps on its course
of opening up, they could look for a better tomorrow.   There is a strong belief
that opportunity is everywhere, and it is you yourself to blame if you don't
make it.

So it tend to be the foreign issues that HKers are looking at: MFN to China, 
continuing of free-trade policy (to keep the economic growing), keeping the 
new world order (stability), reduce the world tension.   That's exactly what 
Bush has done.  

-cw-
_____________________________________________________________________________
C.W.Chung       Objectivity Inc.      Object-Oriented DBMS  Tel: 415/688-8023
                800 El Camino Real,   Menlo Park CA 94025   Fax: 415/325-0939
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