Business is business: son of Murdoch raps Beijing critics
By Philip Delves Broughton in New York
Mr Rupert Murdoch's son James has launched a stinging attack on critics of the Chinese Government, accusing them of failing to understand the complexities of the country and advising pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong to learn to "put up" with life under Beijing.
Speaking to a business conference in Los Angeles attended by his father, the chairman of News Corp, Mr James Murdoch criticised negative media portrayals of the Chinese Government, calling them destabilising forces that were "very, very dangerous" for it.
Mr Murdoch, who runs News Corp's Asian operations, urged his audience not to be sentimental about the Falun Gong group, whose members have been persecuted by the Chinese authorities. He called the group dangerous and an "apocalyptic cult", and said it did not "have the success of China at heart".
Chinese rights activists expressed outrage over his remarks. Mr Kan Hung-Cheung, a spokesman for Falun Gong, which claims to be a spiritual movement advocating meditation and yoga-like exercises, said of Mr Murdoch: "If he's trying to win favour from the mainland I think it would be very irresponsible for him to make such remarks."
Mr Mike Jendrzejczyk, a spokesman for the United States-based Human Rights Watch Asia, said: "It's quite appalling he would echo [the Chinese Government's] rhetoric and use the same excuses."
Mr Murdoch's father has been eyeing China as a huge potential market for years. However, his early approaches to Beijing proved disastrous. In 1993 he boasted that satellite television provided "an unambiguous threat to totalitarian regimes everywhere".
The Chinese Government's reaction was to ban people from owning satellite dishes. Since then he has striven to ingratiate himself with Beijing.
His efforts have reaped dividends. Last month News Corp was part of a joint deal to buy 12.5 per cent of China Netcom, a telecommunications provider backed by Mr Jiang Miangheng, the son of President Jiang Zemin. The deal astonished many because of China's foreign-ownership restrictions.
The Telegraph, London
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