China's 32 new Olympic gold medalists landed here Monday for a star-studded visit that quickly ran into trouble when a Falun Gong follower tried to question mainland officials during a news conference.
Analysts had said Beijing was hoping to score political points ahead of hotly contested legislative elections Sunday, but the PR offensive was marred by an unusual public exchange between a Chinese official and a Falun Gong practitioner.
A woman identifying herself a journalist with New Tang Dynasty Television, which apparently has close ties with Falun Gong, tried to ask a question but was cut off by He Huixian, a top Chinese sports spokeswoman.
"Our goals are different," a visibly upset He told the woman. "I understand your background. We're not going to answer your question."
A reporter with mainstream Hong Kong station TVB then tried to press the mainland officials for an explanation, but got nowhere.
Spiritual group Falun Gong is outlawed in mainland China as an "evil cult," and the Beijing authorities have sought to eradicate it through a crackdown that Falun Gong claims has killed hundreds of its followers. The group remains legal in Hong Kong, where it carries out frequent demonstrations, often to the dismay of local officials.
The New Tang Dynasty staffer, Sarah Liang, later told reporters that she practices Falun Gong but insisted her New York-based station is independent. Liang said she wanted to ask the head of China's Olympics Committee, Yuan Weimin, a nonpolitical question: Whether cash rewards for athletes had improved China's performance.
"I think it's political censorship," Liang said.
Many New Tang Dynasty staffers are affiliated with Falun Gong.
China brought its golden Olympic team to Hong Kong ahead of key elections on Sunday that may increase the legislature's number of pro-democracy, opposition candidates.
Dressed in white and red jackets, the athletes were presented with garlands as they landed in the former British colony, which was returned to China in 1997. Dozens of children waved the Hong Kong and Chinese flags nearby.
Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa greeted the athletes and called them "the pride of Hong Kong and the pride of the country."
The medalists plan demonstrations in table tennis, badminton, diving and volleyball, as well as two public autograph sessions.
The visit comes ahead of a legislative election on Sunday expected to go badly for China's local allies, who currently control the legislature.
Upset by China's ruling in April that Hong Kong can't elect its next leader in 2007 and all lawmakers in 2008, many locals are expected to vote for pro-democracy candidates in the election to fill 30 legislative seats.
The remaining 30 lawmakers will be picked by special interest groups, such as lawyers, accountants and doctors, who tend to side with Beijing.
China dispatched the athletes to Hong Kong as part of a recent charm offensive to minimize the backlash against its local allies at the polls over the decision to hold back on full democracy, said political scientist James Sung.
"The goal is to create an atmosphere of patriotism and nationalist feeling," said Sung, who teaches at the City University of Hong Kong.
China has made efforts to boost patriotism here in the past, including a visit last October by the mainland's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, after his historic space mission.
Many Hong Kongers remain leery of China's Communist regime, concerned that Beijing will extend authoritarian rule to the territory despite promises of leaving its Western-style freedoms intact.
The Olympic medalists head Thursday to the neighboring gambling enclave of Macau, a former Portuguese colony that was returned to China in 1999.