US, Japan, Britain, 18 other countries condemn loss of press freedoms in Hong Kong

The ‘Media Freedom Coalition’ joint statement cites recent closings of Stand News and Citizen News as ‘suppression of independent local media’
Beijing’s institution of the national security law on Hong Kong violates the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984, the statement contends

Hong Kong national security law (NSL)

Robert Delaney

Published: 6:27am, 9 Feb 2022

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The United States, Britain, Japan and 18 other countries have condemned the governments of Hong Kong and mainland China for undermining press freedom in the semi-autonomous city and former British colony.

Citing the recent closures of Hong Kong’s Stand News and Citizen News, the joint statement on Tuesday called moves against some of the city’s media outlets “attacks on freedom of the press” and “suppression of independent local media”.

Beijing’s imposition of a national security law for Hong Kong, which local journalists have said is behind a worsening media environment there, “caused the near-complete disappearance of local independent media outlets” in the city, the statement said.

The closings of Stand and Citizen followed the jailing of Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, who owned the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper and faces a charge under the law that he used social media and his newspaper to call for sanctions against Hong Kong government officials.

Jimmy Lai, who founded Apple Daily, is escorted by Correctional Services officers to a prison van before appearing in a Hong Kong court on December 12, 2020. Photo: AP

“These ongoing actions further undermine confidence in Hong Kong’s international reputation through the suppression of human rights, freedom of speech and free flow and exchange of opinions and information,” the statement said.

Signatories also included Canada, Australia, Germany and Lithuania, which has itself been at the centre of a stand-off between the European Union and Beijing over Vilnius’s agreement to host a “Taiwanese representative office”, a move that Beijing claimed breaches the EU’s one-China policy.

The remaining signatories of the “Media Freedom Coalition” statement were the governments of Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland.

Asked to comment on the joint statement, the Chinese embassy in Washington pointed to an official response published by Beijing’s foreign affairs office in Hong Kong, which said: “Any attempt to interfere with Hong Kong affairs and exert pressure on us in the name of press freedom is doomed to failure.”

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The response accused the signatories of teaming up “to vilify Hong Kong’s freedom of the press, interfered with the rule of law in Hong Kong, and supported anti-China elements in the city”.

The brief 21-nation statement also cited China’s obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration twice, calling the use of the national security law against news outlets a violation of the 1984 treaty that paved the way for the 1997 handover of Hong Kong’s sovereignty to Beijing.

The UN-registered treaty states that China’s basic policies regarding Hong Kong would “remain unchanged for 50 years”, including the promise that the city would retain a high degree of autonomy.

Beijing has clashed repeatedly with London and Washington over the joint declaration, calling it a “historical document that no longer has any realistic meaning”; the US and Britain frequently invoke it to condemn Beijing’s harder line against dissent in Hong Kong.