China president mounts charm offensive on naive Hong Kong press

Jiang made a detour to answer questions from Hong Kong reporters at the end of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in Brunei, government radio station RTHK reported. The encounter on Friday night was the first since Beijing last month, were Jiang launched into a three-minute tirade against the Hong Kong media, which brought accusations that he was trying to reign in the territory's press.

His outburst came when he lost his temper after being asked by one reporter if it was an "imperial order" that Hong Kong's Beijing- picked Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa should serve a second term when he comes up for re-election in 2002. A smiling Jiang on Friday appeared keen to build bridges, making a detour to the Hong Kong press pack and taking several minutes to answer questions on the subject of Taiwan. When he finished, he said: "I'm afraid I have said too much. You're satisfied today aren't you?"

Afterwards, an aide phoned reporters to ask if they were happy with the answers Jiang gave them and if they needed further clarification, RTHK reported Saturday. In his outburst last month, Jiang jabbed his finger at reporters, told them to improve their standards and said the only thing Hong Kong journalists had over their Western counterparts was that they could run faster. The attack was seen by many observers as a sign of Jiang's frustration at not being able to control the Hong Kong press in the way Beijing authorities do the mainland China press. Hong Kong is guaranteed a free press under the handover agreement by which the territory was handed back to China by Britain in 1997.

(bb/dpa)