National security law: Hong Kong slams overseas coalition for ‘totally erroneous statement’ on press freedom

Name: HK Journalists Association ‘assesses risk’, worries about press freedom and its own future
Uploaded: 2022-02-09T17:19:16.000Z
Duration: 4 min 37 s
Description: HK Journalists Association ‘assesses risk’, worries about press freedom and its own future

Joint statement by 22 member countries of Media Freedom Coalition had expressed deep concern at authorities’ ‘suppression of independent local media’

Hong Kong government condemns comments while Chinese embassy in London tells foreign countries to stop meddling in city’s affairs

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Police escort Stand News acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam from the outlet’s office last month. photo: May Tse

Christy Leung

Published: 1:19am, 10 Feb 2022Updated: 2:26am, 10 Feb 2022

Hong Kong on Wednesday hit back at a press freedom coalition of overseas countries for its “erroneous” comments that the city’s independent media was being suppressed, saying the industry remained “as vibrant as ever”.

The government said it strongly condemned the “totally erroneous statement”, issued by the British government for the Media Freedom Coalition on Monday, concerning the national security law.

The Chinese embassy in London also slammed the statement and told foreign countries to stop meddling in Hong Kong affairs.

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HK Journalists Association ‘assesses risk’, worries about press freedom and its own future

The rebukes were triggered by a joint statement by 22 member countries of the coalition which expressed “deep concern at the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese authorities’ attacks on freedom of the press and their suppression of independent local media in Hong Kong”.

The statement – co-signed by 17 European nations, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and Japan – said that since the enactment of the national security law in June 2020, “authorities have targeted and suppressed independent media” in Hong Kong.

It said the move had eroded the protected rights and freedoms set out in the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution, and undermined China’s obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the 1984 agreement which paved the way for the city’s handover in 1997.

“This has also caused the near-complete disappearance of local independent media outlets in Hong Kong,” the statement said.