Right — not Wong Sir: As a new arrival in
Hong Kong, I find it interesting how everybody writing about the territory seems to know more about our business than we do ourselves. Martin Van- der Weyer does not let the side down when he reports as a matter of fact that the South China Morning Post kowtowed to Beijing when it dropped the comic strip 'Lily Wong 'last month ('We were reluctant to rig elec- tions', 3 June).
That is, indeed, the conspiracy theory among British correspondents here. The reality is that we undertook a cost-cutting exercise in the editorial last month and that Lily Wong's price was the equivalent of the salaries of two journalists, so we decided to let her go. Economic facts are, of course, much less interesting than casually accept- ed tales of sinister plots.
Your correspondent also refers to the strip's popularity. I have no idea what he based his assessment on. I can only say that we have received fewer than a dozen letters about the strip's disappearance, many of them simply asking where it had gone.
Jonathan Fenby
South China Morning Post, 29 Floor, Dorset House, 979 King's Road, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong
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