Steve Vines Explained

Stephen Vines
Landscape:yes
Party:Civic Party
Module:
T:韋安仕
J:wai5 ngon1 si6
Child:yes

Stephen Vines is a British journalist, writer, broadcaster and restaurateur, who was based in Hong Kong from 1987 to 2021.[1]

Career

Vines first moved to Hong Kong in 1987 as a south-east Asia correspondent for The Observer, with the intent of staying for a few years.[2] [3] He then went on to work as a correspondent for the BBC, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent and Asia Times. Vines was the founding editor of Eastern Express, and the founder and publisher of Spike, a political and business weekly magazine.[4] Both the Eastern Express and Spike failed shortly after their launch.[5] [6] He was involved with the start-up of Hong Kong Free Press.[7] He once served as the president of the Foreign Correspondents' Club.[8]

Vines also hosted The Pulse, a current affairs TV programme on RTHK. The programme was terminated in July 2021 amid a shakedown at the "embattled" public broadcaster.[9]

Apart from journalism, he operated companies in the food and beverage sector. He was also a founding member of the Civic Party.[10]

Political views

Criticism of the central Chinese and Hong Kong governments

Vines has been a repeated critic of both the Chinese Central Government and the Chinese government of Hong Kong ever since the handover. Already in 1997, Vines compared the handling of the media by the government of Hong Kong's first Chief Executive Tung Chee-Hwa unfavorably to Hong Kong's last British governor Chris Patten, whom he called "very media-savvy and media-friendly."[11] Vines described Tung's administration as "staggeringly incompetent."[12] More recently, he has again compared the years before the handover under colonial rule favorably to the post-1997 period.[13] He has generally criticized Hong Kong's Chief Executives as supposedly being too loyal to the Chinese central government, for example describing the administration of Carrie Lam as "quislings."[14] [15] [16] He has lamented that "[a]fter the handover there was a frenzy of tearing down structural reminders of British colonial rule" and claims that the Chinese central government has repeatedly "undermined" Hong Kong's autonomy since 1997.[17]

Departure from Hong Kong

In August 2021, Vines announced he left Hong Kong for the UK in fear of "white terror" under the Hong Kong national security law. In an email to his friends and colleagues, he wrote, "[t]he white terror sweeping through Hong Kong is far from over and the near-term prospects of things getting better are simply non-existent".[18] [19] He told the Financial Times that he had been targeted by pro-Beijing people. He said, "[t]hey have this band of people who are not officially sanctioned... who go around threatening anybody who has, so called, stepped out of line. Unfortunately, I was one of those. [The person] said quite aggressively... 'you better watch your step, we are coming for you.'" Reflecting in Hong Kong Free Press on his departure, Vines wrote that "loving Hong Kong has become a suspect activity".[20]

Vines, along with several other former Hong Kong residents, ultimately settled in the English town of St. Albans.

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Welle (www.dw.com). Deutsche. 香港移民潮：传媒人、艺术家纷纷出走 DW 03.08.2021. 2021-08-03. DW.COM. zh-CN.
  2. Web site: Space for Journalism Shrinking 'by the Day,' Hong Kong Journalist Says. 2021-09-17. VOA. en.
  3. Web site: Vines. Steve. 2021-08-08. I covered Hong Kong for decades. Now I am forced to flee China's 'white terror'. 2021-09-17. The Guardian. en.
  4. Web site: FCC club dinner with Stephen VINES. 2021-08-03. The Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong FCC. en-US.
  5. News: Journal. Erik GuyotStaff Reporter of The Wall Street. 1996-07-02. Failure to Find Niche Leads Eastern Express to Fold. en-US. Wall Street Journal. 2021-09-05. 0099-9660.
  6. Web site: Greater China: Headline - Spike magazine folds after failing to get investors News. 2021-09-05. Campaign Asia.
  7. Web site: rsbradbeer. 2021-08-03. Veteran Sai Kung journalist Steve Vines flees 'white terror in HK' for UK. 2021-08-03. HONG KONG BUZZ. en-GB.
  8. News: Veteran journalist flees 'white terror sweeping' Hong Kong. 2021-08-03. Financial Times. 3 August 2021. Riordan. Primrose. Liu. Nicolle.
  9. Web site: Grundy. Tom. 2021-07-04. The Pulse with Steve Vines is latest news show to be axed by public broadcaster RTHK. 2021-08-03. Hong Kong Free Press. en-GB.
  10. News: 2007-06-19. 我的香港十年：變與不變. en-GB. 2021-08-03.
  11. Web site: 2021-06-27. The Case of Jimmy Lai: Hong Kong's Press Freedom Canary? - Committee to Protect Journalists. 2021-09-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20210627234541/https://cpj.org/reports/1997/09/page2/. 2021-06-27.
  12. Book: Hong Kong in focus : political and economic issues. 2002. Nova Science Publishers. S. G. Rioni. 1-59033-237-7. Hauppauge, N.Y.. 118. 57352579.
  13. Web site: Vines. Stephen. 2021-10-07. Why did Hong Kong need 8,000 police to help it celebrate National Day?. 2021-10-08. Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. en-GB.
  14. Book: Vines, Stephen. Defying the dragon : Hong Kong and the world's largest dictatorship. 2021. 978-1-78738-455-2. London. Appendix II. 1197720182.
  15. Web site: What about a real Communist to lead Hong Kong? EJINSIGHT - ejinsight.com. 2021-09-05. EJINSIGHT.
  16. Web site: 2021-09-04. How Hong Kong's tyrants are taking baby steps towards dictatorship. 2021-09-04. Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. en-GB.
  17. Book: Vines, Stephen. Defying the dragon : Hong Kong and the world's largest dictatorship. 2021. 978-1-78738-455-2. London. 29–32. 1197720182.
  18. Web site: Journalist Steve Vines flees 'white terror in HK' - RTHK. 2021-08-03. news.rthk.hk. en-gb.
  19. Web site: 2021-08-03. Ex-RTHK broadcaster and HKFP columnist Steve Vines leaves Hong Kong for UK citing 'white terror'. 2021-08-03. Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. en-GB.
  20. News: Vines . Stephen . Steve Vines: Loving Hong Kong has become a suspect activity – why, at last, it was time to leave . Hong Kong Free Press . 6 August 2021.

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