And what about Article 23
2 December 2002

A feature editor of a prominent local English newspaper recently spoke to the Club on Article 23. She began with an introduction of what the issue was all about. Even as she was speaking, I could not help wondering where she was and what she was doing when the Basic Law was being drafted, adopted and promulgated. Probably nowhere near Hong Kong, one suspects; but that is not a problem.

Article 23 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China reads as follows, "The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies."

I have no idea whether the speaker has since been invited to talk to other clubs or whether any other clubs have invited any other speakers in the past two months since the issue became live to address what could be the single most significant and potentially controversial issue.

It would be easy to dismiss discussions on Article 23 in Rotary as inappropriate on grounds that Rotary is not a political organization, but that would be tantamount to burying one's heads in the sand. On the contrary, there is every reason and motivation for every Rotarian and club in the District to take an interst in the matter if we are to live up to what we profess, that we are business and professional leaders united in service to help build goodwill and peace in the world.

Already, many politicians, academics, business groups and activitists everywhere have spoken in response to the consultation paper issued by the Government calling for submissions by Christmas. Are we likely to hear any views from Rotarians of the District?