Roland of ESWN, who’s name AsiaPundit has never mentioned, has come out in the open with an interview in Hong Kong’s Next magazine. Letters from China provides a selection of money quotes.:

Quotations from Mr Soong’s interview which may reflect his philosophy of blogging (after reading my “translation” (so to speak), you will sorely miss ESWN):

“I do not make comment. I put everything on the internet. Who is right and who is wrong, you decide.” (我不下評論，全放上網讓你看，對對錯錯，由你判斷。)

“Countries in the world are divided into the South and the North. The South is developing countries. The North is developed countries. I came from the West to the East. So [the blog] is titled East South West North.” (世界上的國家，分南、北。南是發展中國家，北是已發展國家。我由西方來到東方，所以叫東南西北。)

“If I think English media coverage is sufficient, I don’t translate it. Lots of people talked about Bush’s visit to China. You could guess the way the New York Times reported the visit. And it is even more pointless to translate the People’s Daily. (如果我認為英文已經足夠，就不理它。像布殊訪問中國，大把人講。《紐約時報》的報導形式，你猜到。《人民日報》，更加無謂翻譯。)

“Perhaps one would not know [a 78-year-old Hong Kong citizen placed advertisement in newspapers questioning when would there be universal suffrage] by reading the New York Times.” (看《紐約時報》大概不會知道有這種事。)

“I particularly want media people to read [my blog] so that they dare not distort the fact. For instance, when Chinese fleet visited Hong Kong, New York Times put it like that the mainland scared Hong Kong democracy. And that article was even published on the annual report of American congress. How can you say that? I showed you. Was your fleet visit an attempt to scare China?” (我特別在乎傳媒人看，等他們別亂來 …… 像中國海軍艦隊來香港，《紐約時報》說成是大陸恐嚇香港民主，那文章還在美國國會年報刊登。…… 你咁都講得出？我讓你看，你們艦隊來，算不算恐嚇中國？)

Roland also notes the LfC translation, and reveals more details on his nonpartisan leanings from a speech at an Internet conference in Hong Kong.:

I do this by becoming the single most hated blog in Hong Kong. When I write about something like the number of marchers on 12/4, the democrats are howling that I am a Communist Party shill. When I write about something like the new rules on avian flu reporting in China, the other boot falls. So I am hated by all sides.

But why is my political position so ambivalent? Because I have none. As an American citizen, my greatest sorrow is to watch how political partisanship has destroyed all sense of objectivity among the citizens. Take an event such as Hurricane Katrina and run a public opinion poll on satisfaction with the administration’s performance? Approval rates are 10% from Democrats, 15% from Independents and 90% from Republicans. People don’t look at the objective situation anymore — everything is about partisanship calculations. I do not talk politics in the United States anymore, because nobody is listening.

But when I write about something on my blog, I do not look at the party behind it. If something is wrong, then it is wrong. It is wrong to exaggerate the number of marchers just as it is wrong to order people to hide information about an epidemic outbreak. If there is a pro-Beijing rally in which their organizers claim 750,000, you can bet that I will review the evidence and condemn them for lying. If the Hong Kong government has the same orders about reporting avian flu, I would publish that information too. After living through Free China, Richard Nixon, the Cultural Revolution, Monica Lewinsky, the War in Iraq and all that, I am now insisting on a world of truth.

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