The Standing Committee on Pressure Groups (SCOPG) was a secret committee set up in 1977 by the

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

government to monitor the activities of

pressure group Advocacy groups, also known as lobby groups, interest groups, special interest groups, pressure groups, or public associations, use various forms of advocacy or lobbying to influence public opinion and ultimately public policy. They play an impor ...

s. The existence of this committee was first revealed in the ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'' on 12 December 1980. The article, written by Duncan Campbell, asserted that any political group had been subjected to surveillance. Furthermore, the SCOPG had actively sought to undermine, co-opt or coerce eleven groups that were specifically targeted in a confidential report obtained by the paper. What was even more surprising, the SCOPG had been set up to infiltrate pressure groups. The greatest emphasis was placed on a group called the Hong Kong Observers. Due to political pressure the committee ceased to exist in 1983.

Government response

The government officially recognized the existence of the committee but denied that it had any sinister motives. The claim was that it was set up to monitor pressure groups in order to better understand the groups' opinions. Furthermore, the government attacked the ''New Statesman'' for inaccuracies and lies (such as the allegation that the committee had sought to infiltrate pressure groups). The report had also put pressure on the government to reveal details about the

Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...

, which Campbell had put at 20% of the police force. The government rejected these figures and also asserted that the staff of 1,200 was used to accommodate state visits, avert terrorist acts, and subversive activities by

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

agents.

Later revelations

The ''

Hong Kong Standard ''The Standard'' is an English-language free newspaper in Hong Kong with a daily circulation of 200,450 in 2012. It was formerly called the ''Hongkong Standard'' and changed to ''HKiMail'' during the Internet boom but partially reverted to ''T ...

'' revealed on 16 January 1981 that there were personal attacks as well as plans for possible infiltration of groups such as school and college associations. The paper reported that the goal of the SCOPG was to protect Hong Kong's image abroad. On 28 January 1981 the same paper reported on a 'Red List' after it had obtained 11 further confidential reports. The three groups that were supposedly threatened by

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

infiltration were the

Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union The Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union (HKPTU) was a pro-democracy trade union, professional association and social concern group in Hong Kong. At the time of its disbandment in 2021, it was the largest teachers' organisation in Hong Ko ...

(HKPTU)(headed by

Szeto Wah Szeto Wah (; 28 February 1931 – 2 January 2011) was a Hong Kong democracy activist and politician. He was the founding chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the Hong Kong Professional Teac ...

), the

Hong Kong Federation of Students The Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS, or 學聯) is a student organisation founded in May 1958 by the student unions of four higher education institutions in Hong Kong. The inaugural committee had seven members representing the four sc ...

(HKFS) and the Government School Non-Graduate Teachers Union (GSNTU). In response to this revelation, the government said that this report did not reflect the official opinion of the government.

Destruction of the files

In 1995, the government admitted that almost all the files related to the SCOPG report had been destroyed during the 1980s "for record management purposes." The secretary for security, Peter Lai, also stated: "Government policy provides for the review of classified material. Government files are destroyed for record management purposes when they no longer serve a useful purpose." The government refused to answer further questions about the committee and declared that no new similar committee had been set up.

References

External links

* * {{cite web, url=http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/newspaper/index.jsp , location=Hong Kong, title=Hong Kong Newspaper Clippings Online , website=sunzil.lib.hku.hk (login required) British Hong Kong Politics of Hong Kong 1978 establishments in Hong Kong Hong Kong, Pressure Groups