MEDIA : Hong Kong Readers Have a New Paper : As Chinese rule nears, the English-language Eastern Express vows to be independent.

As most of the media here keep a wary eye on China in the prelude to this British colony’s return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, a new English-language newspaper is promising editorial independence.

The arrival this week of Eastern Express, Hong Kong’s third English-language newspaper, coincides with a growing concern over the political orientation of the colony’s newspapers and television networks.

Oriental Press Group Ltd., publisher of the colony’s most widely read Chinese-language newspaper, announced the decision to publish the new, six-day-a-week paper in September after the controversial sale of the dominant, English-language South China Morning Post. It was sold by Rupert Murdoch, the conservative international media magnate, to Robert Kuok, a pro-Beijing business tycoon.

In the last few months, a steady flow of journalists from the Post and other publications in Hong Kong have defected to Eastern Express. Prompting some of these departures has been concern over press freedoms and job security under Beijing rule.

Members of the Hong Kong press corps have said they believe that Eastern Express’ vow to stake out a position of “rigorous independence” is particularly important at a time when self-censorship is steadily creeping into the local media. But so far, fears that Kuok, an adviser to China on Hong Kong affairs, would seek to impose pro-China views have not materialized.

Meanwhile, the Sing Tao Group, which owns the English-language newspaper the Standard, is considering publishing a paper in China.

Eastern Express Chief Editor Stephen Vines said these developments could lead to a less independent attitude toward China at both the Post and the Standard.

“The way to avoid political biases and self-censorship is by having the support of the management of the company, who are committed to the independence of the paper,” Vines said. “Our paper will be vigorously independent . . . but with one prejudice shown in favor of the people of Hong Kong.”

Eastern Express takes a unique approach by placing emphasis on analytical, “magazine-style” articles rather than day-to-day news stories.

According to an editorial in the first edition, which included goodwill messages from former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, Eastern Express will give an unbiased view as papers here become more polarized in the Sino-British dispute over Gov. Chris Patten’s proposals for democratic reform in Hong Kong. (China is resolutely opposed to those proposals.)

“Will we be pro- or anti-China? Or will we be pro- or anti-(Hong Kong) government? The answer is simple. We will be neither,” the editorial said.

Some analysts here see business reasons for introducing a new English-language newspaper with just 3 1/2 years to go before the colony reverts to China.

“If the Post bears a label of being pro-China, then there is a vacuum for an independent newspaper in Hong Kong” to fill, said Kenneth Leung, journalism and communications chairman and lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “Newspapers are also commercial in nature . . . and advertisers look to papers which are influential.”

The colony’s English-language newspaper battle is well under way, and casualties seem unavoidable. Some analysts here say the Standard, which has a circulation of about 48,000, has the most to lose. The Post circulates 110,000 copies, while Eastern Express is striving for a circulation of 70,000.

The Post, one of the world’s most profitable papers, earned $75 million in operating profit on revenue of $129 million in the year that ended last June 30.

BuG. Warburg Securities (Far East) Ltd. released a report in October stating that competition from Eastern Express “is going to result in strong cost pressures for SCMP (South China Morning Post Holdings), if not yet loss of revenue, and is particularly ill-timed for SCMP in that it is facing a decline in advertising revenue.”

Neither the Post nor the Standard is standing still. Both papers have introduced design changes and added new sections--though they say these modifications were planned well in advance of the announced launch of Eastern Express.