The lease of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) in Hong Kong will expire on Jan. 1, 2023. The Hong Kong government has recently approved its renewal, but with new terms added. The lease period has been reduced from the previous seven years to just three years, and the lease can be terminated with three months’ notice by the government, and national security clauses have been added this time.
The government responded to The Epoch Times inquiry and stated that the FCC had previously requested the lease renewal of the site. After careful consideration, it has proposed to the FCC a new three-year lease at the market rate, effective from Jan. 2, 2023.
The government added that the new lease period is in line with its new policy of standardizing the lease period of all historic buildings through the Government Property Agency at no more than three years. Within this framework, it provides more flexibility in using these historical buildings, which allows better execution of the government’s policies and goals during different periods, as well as the needs of Hong Kong’s development. On the other hand, a three-year lease term should be good enough to allow the tenants a suitable time to make proper arrangements for their operations.
In addition, the Information Officer of the Government Information Services Department confirmed that standard clauses for safeguarding national security and fully protecting the rights and interests of the government would be included in the new lease.
Emily Lau Wai-hing, a former member of the Legislative Council who is also a sponsoring member of the FCC, said that the renewal of the FCC site is a big relief to the press, who can now be assured of the future and continue to perform the reporter’s duty. If the worst comes to the worst and the Hong Kong government chooses not to renew the lease, it will herald more negative feelings to Hong Kong and the international community. She believes that reducing the renewal period from seven years to three is not a real problem and hopes it will not put too much pressure on the wider press. Regarding the addition of the National Security Law as one renewal condition, Lau described the new requirement as like saying, “ The Pope is Catholic (needless to say),” pointing out that the National Security Law is part of the Hong Kong laws, by which both journalists and citizens must abide anyway.
FCC is located at 2 Lower Albert Road, Central, a government property. It used to be the old warehouse of Dairy Farm (a dairy product producer in HK). It is currently rated as a “Grade 1 Historic Building” in Hong Kong. FCC moved took over the lease in 1982.
The FCC has been involved in many incidents in recent years, including interviewing the convener of the Hong Kong National Party, Andy Chan Ho-tin, publishing an investigation report stating that the working environment of journalists in Hong Kong has deteriorated, and issuing a statement concerning the arrest of the chairman of the Journalists Association, Ronson Chan, in September this year (2022). All these drew repeated criticism from the pro-establishment camp, as well as the Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC in the HK government. All attention had been focused lately on whether the government would approve the renewal of the lease of the property to FCC.
