MONTHLY REPORT--HONG KONG BUREAU--MARCH 1986

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87-01104R000100050010-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 21, 2012
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: April 3, 1986
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/21 :CIA-RDP87-011048000100050010-6
FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE
HONG KONG BUREAU
MHK-6PJ04
3 April 1986
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director. Foreign Broadcast Information Service
THROUGH Chief, Operations Group
SUBJECT Monthly Report--Hong Kong Bureau--March 1986
A. While output during the month was again very high (1.37
million publishable words), there was not the pressure or
excitement of the previous month. Someone (no doubt an editor who
had just completed 13 takes of HONGQI on improving one's "party
style") offered the opinion that the work this month had been just
like the weather: grey, dreary, and with no end in sight. The sun
has not been seen here since 3 days after Marcos fled Manila;
Kostan has been asked to bring back confirmation that it is still
out there somewhere.
STAT
C. There has been a sudden spurt in the cost of apartment
rentals in the mid-levels, in part due to the government's
relaxation of some rent controls. Lease renewal increases are now
ranging from 30 to as much as 10~! percent for some a artments. As
a consequence, with encouragement from Gramm-Rudman, will STAT
remain in her present apartment and the lease on my apartment (the
most expensive of the lot) will not be renewed. A less costly
2-bedroom flat on Conduit Road, previously leased by the Consulate
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but being relinquished as people are moved to the Shousan Hills
building, will be taken over temporarily by the bureau. Until the
Bonham Road building i early next year, this unit will be
used b with oing into the flat being vacated by
the On the 12th, and I, along with other section and
agency chiefs, had a close oo at the Bonham Road building and one
of its model flats. Some rooms are small by U.S. standards, but
overall we felt the rumors and complaints about the inadequacy of
the building to be exaggerated.
D sat-in as an observer at the State-sponsored China
Reporting Con erence held at the Consulate 10-11 March. These
conferences, held twice yearly and alternating between Beijing and
Hong Kong, enable State officers, as well as other select persons
involved in China reporting, to get together to discuss current
developments and issues.
E. Consul General Levin will be replaced this summer by Donald
A~nd~~errson^~~TheYlatteL_served,in Hong Kong as a younger ForeignQC~
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
A. Monitorial/Editorial
1. Though interest in the Philippines and its new
government remained high, the bureau was relieved to see its
coverage and reporting return to more manageable levels during the
month. Unfortunately, radio coverage, which had been severely
disrupted by the late-February crisis, has yet to return to
normal. Some stations are still not broadcasting, or are doing so
at reduced power. This, coupled with the usual poor reception
experienced this time of year, has left the bureau with very little
that can be monitored: FEBC, a mid-day cast by local station
Dagupan Radio, and an Ilocano-language station in central Luzon,
the latter heard intermittently. Radios DZFM and Ng Bayan, which
surfaced after the crisis on old MBS frequencies, have been
una-onitorable since early March. During a short visit to Manila a
week ago, Tagalog monitor ~ talked to the former head of the STAT
MBS broadcast facilities. She was told that they might "resume"
broadcasting on shortwave, but that they were still having
technical difficulties due to the damage last month.
2. The absence of monitorable Philippine radios was one
problem during the month; keeping up with all the newspaper changes
was another. Several papers, previously pro-Marcos, took on new
names and new political orientations as employees or supporters of
the new government took control, while previously banned papers
reappeared. BULLETIN TODAY reverted to using its pre-martial law
name of MANILA BULLETIN; METRO MANILA TIMES ceased publishing
altogether, though its sister afternoon publication, THE MANILA
EVENING POST, expanded and revitalized as of 12 March; employees of
DAILY EXPRESS took control of that paper, renaming it THE NEW
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PHILIPPINES DAILY EXPRESS (this paper also has a new separate
Sunday edition); and THE MANILA TIMES, a paper closed down by the
Marcos administration in 1972, resumed publication on 18 March (it
also puts out a separate Sunday edition). We also started
receiving copies of the PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER, an independent
paper which is part of the MR. & MRS. Publishing Company. The
TIMES JOURNAL, another pro-Marcos paper, has announced that it,
too, will go out of business. Keeping track of all these changes
has left our editors, and no doubt MOD, wondering if this a new
variation of "Who's on first and What's on second."
3. As the new Philippine Government sought to consolidate
its power and gain control of events, the bureau grappled with the
question of future staffing and coverage, anticipating eventual
approval of a remote commercial phone hookup to the Philippines.
back to Hong Kong for a permanent assignment at the end of this
week, giving the bureau two regular monitors. With Headquarters'
approval, we also started looking into the possibility of hiring an
additional part-time contract monitor. Several applicants were
tested and one proved capable, but turned out to be a naturalized
American which complicated any hiring plan. In any event, with the
likelihood of a Cebu remote we are more interested in finding
someone with Cebuano capability if possible. We have also been
looking for an Ilocano speaker, but of two prospects considered so
far neither had a sufficient command of English. We are continuing
our search for someone with either of these dialects, but thus far
in a relatively low-key fashion. If unsuccessful, we may resort to
a more open recruitment effort.
4. With Bangkok's AFP connection finally complete, we
relinquished coverage of South Asia, Southeast Asia and other
countries in Bangkok~s area of responsibility. We retain
responsibility for the Philippines, New Zealand, China, Taiwan, the
Koreas, Japan and the South Pacific. Bangkok will cover our areas
from our evening closure time until they close, and on Saturday and
Sunday evenings. We will continue backstopping other AFP bureaus
during their closed hours per previous arrangements.
5. The local XINHUA office informed us early in the month
that as of 1 April, China News Service (CNS) items would no longer
be transmitted on their circuit. A separate contract with CNS,
with an additional fax printer and a separate telephone line, would
be necessary. With these upcoming changes, we have had to negotiate
new contracts with both news services. We are still awaiting final
word on this.
6. In China itself, March saw several noteworthy
developments: a plenary session of the NPC (largely covered by
Okinawa, including television); the visit by Soviet First Deputy
Premier Ivan Arkhipov; and more apearances by Deng Xiaoping,
temporarily putting to rest the rumors of his ill health or
demise. We also started covering a new weekly business supplement
to the English-language CHINA DAILY.
STAT
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B. Communications:
Like Bangkok and Seoul, we experienced many commo
difficulties during the month, most of them related to computer
problems at Clark. Some of these were apparently linked to
breaking-in problems with the new computer installed there during
the month. Our most serious outage, however, was due to an
unidentified problem in the autodin system between Clark and Guam.
This problem, which lasted off and on from 4-7 March, mainly
affected incoming traffic. Eventually, traffic was sent via an
altroute. Another lengthy delay in traffic occured on 19-20 March,
resulting at one point in the Wire having to contact the bureau to
find out why they were receiving no traffic from us, including a
response to an 00 query. Still later in the month we experienced
several days where numerous multitake items from Hqs and Okinawa
(Wire and XINHUA logs) arrived here incomplete. We are still not
sure we received all traffic for us during those 2 days.
C. Lateral Service
1. The Malaysian Commission (equivalent to Consulate) in
Hong Kong sought the bureau's assistance in renewing a subscription
to the Asia & Pacific DAILY REPORT.
2. At the request of the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka, the
bureau wirefiled the full text of the 2 March ASIA WEEK interview
with President Ershad. The ASIA WEEK version available in
Bangladesh had been censored and the embassy wanted to see what
passages had been deleted. The bureau sent the item to regular
consumers as well as the embassy.
3. Further refinements were made during the month in the
delivery of Vietnamese papers to Bangkok Bureau and NEAD. With
Bangkok's success in obtaining NHAN DAN and other papers directly,
we have started sending those copies which are transhipped through
Hong Kong (previously posted to Bangkok) to NERD, using our daily
Federal Express shipments. We are also seeking to obtain for NEAR,
subscriptions to SAIGON and HANOI MOI.
D. Technical
1. We encountered a further delay this month in getting
our new microwave backup system up and running. Following some
initial difficulties (a problem traced to carelessness by
technicians from CSL, the company installing the terminal
equipment, a temporary telephone line outage, and a defective
redundancy card in the St. John's terminal), it was then found that
the same card in the Mt. Butler terminal was also defective, with
no spare available. Further testing will resume as soon as
replacement cards arrive from the States.
2. We have purchased an inexpensive portable computer to
be used in conjunction with our microwave backup system. It will
permit our technicians to monitor and test the status of the system
at all times. When not being used for this purpose, we intend to
let the unit be used for our growing cadre of computer-interested
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monitors, both for translations and building of Chinese reference
files.
3. A programmable Sony 2001-D receiver, which we recently
purchased, has been shipped to our Beijing contractor, for a
trial. The unit is much smaller and more sensitive than the old
Sony 330's, plus easy to operate once you get the programming all
down. If it is felt to be an improvement, we will obtain a second
one to replace the other Sony 330 now in use.
III. ADMINISTRATION
A. Personnel:
1. Six of our commo operators
I were
presented with Certificates of Merit and Distinction, plus monetary
awards, at a 6 March ceremony in the bureau chief's office. The
awards were in recognition of the dedication and hard work shown by
these six employees over the past year as the unit's workload and
involvement in fast-breaking developments increased dramatically.
The recipients pooled some of their award money to generously host
a dim sum luncheon for all bureau employees.
2. Three bureau employees
received length-of-servic ward
s uring t e month.
was for 10 years, and ~ for 25 years.
3. New admin assistant formerly a secretary
for the Foreign Commercial Service, began working for the bureau
effective 17 March.
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
4. The Consulate's long-delayed Provident Fund for local
employees has been resubmitted to the State Department for
approval. Hopes are high that the Department, the Consulate, and
the Foreign National Association have finally reached a consensus
on a plan. The Provident Fund is not the only employee benefit
that has been delayed by the Department. A pay raise proposal for
local employees, submitted in December, is yet to be approved.
B. Buildings & Grounds:
1. In late March we held a ribbon-cutting (yellow of~~,,,,' .Q~ ~~^
course) ceremony to mark the opening of the "Cory Aquino r,..r?~"`
Philippines unit monitoring room." The room is designed to
comfortably accommodate our two monitors, a third if necessary, and
has all equipment they require to remotely tune and record
programs.
STAT
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_ J ~~--.
called on t e bureau on 11 March while on TDY with the Defense
Liaison Office. ~ said he was a big user of FBIS videotapes,
especially those on the Chinese navy.
B? departed the bureau on the 28th, taking
personal eave in Japan and Iowa before representing the bureau at
the annual bureau chiefs conference.
C? editorial trainee, visited the bureau on
3PJ March whin Hong Kong on personal leave following completion
of her training TDY at Okinawa.
Attachment: Monthly Production Report
cc: Original and 3 - Hqs
1 - C/Bangkok
1 - C/Seoul
1 - C/Okinawa
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
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TOTAL PUBLISHABLE WORDAGE FILED DURING MONTH: 1?74;9~~
TOTAL NON-PUBLISHABLE WORDAGE FILED DURING MONTH: 1~i6794
TOTAL NUMBER OF PUBLISHABLE ITEMS FILED DURING MONTH: ~~7~
III. OUTPUT FROM ALL SOURGE5:
(PUBLISHABLE WORDS FER MONTH)
BROAD- F'RE55 F'UBLI-
CASTS AGENCIES CATIONS
CHINO
BEIJING INTERNATIONAL 5ERVICE IN
TAGALOG bb54
BEIJING TELEVISION 5ERVICE IN
MANDARIN 940
CHANGSHA HUNAN PRDVINCIAL SERVICE IN
MANDARIN 8~?4
CHENGDU SICHUAN PROVINCIAL SERVICE IN
MANDARIN 1~"1884
GUANGZHOU GUANGDDNG PRDVINCIAL SERVICE IN
MANDARIN 118?~~
GUIYANG GUIZHOU PRDVINCIAL SERVICE IN
MANDARIN 7114
HAIk::OU HAINAM ISLAND 5ERVICE IN
MANDARIN 607~~
k:UNMING YUNNAN PROVINCIAL SERVICE IN
MANDARIN 99