Outrage over Beijing barring HK journalist
The central government has been urged to explain why it has refused to allow a Hong Kong reporter to enter Beijing for assignments concerning next month's Olympic Games.
In a joint statement, the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) and the International Federation of Journalists said they were appalled by the incident.
'This is entirely at variance with the Chinese government's pledge to the international community to allow complete freedom of the press during [the Olympic] period,' the statement said.
In a letter to Gao Siren, director of the central government's liaison office, the HKJA also asked the Beijing authorities to clarify the issue.
Apple Daily principal reporter Norman Choy was denied entry to Beijing on Wednesday under what was said to be the national-security law. He was sent back to Hong Kong and officers confiscated his home-return permit - a travel document used by Hong Kong residents to visit the mainland.
Apple Daily, owned by pro- democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, is known for its critical stance towards Beijing.
Mak Yin-ting, an HKJA member, said the seizure of the reporter's travel document had surprised her.
'In the past, usually the mainland authorities would only turn away reporters after some questioning. It is rather serious to expel a reporter under the national-security law and seize his travel document.'
Veteran mainland-watcher Johnny Lau Yui-siu said Beijing had acted unwisely. 'It shows to the people of the world that Beijing has not lived up to international expectations in terms of rights and freedoms.'
Legislator Lau Kong-wah, of the Beijing-loyalist Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, agreed the incident was unusual. But he said: 'Every country has the right to turn away unwelcome visitors.'
Choy said yesterday: 'I demand the Chinese government return my home-return permit. I have no plans to reapply for it. I should not have lost it but for their unreasonable act.'
