Hong Kong chief executive election 2022: Beijing, city government lash out at Google for taking down YouTube channel of candidate John Lee
- Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin says tech giant Google helping US government meddle in internal affairs of other countries
- City government issues statement expressing’ extreme outrage at any form of interference in the internal affairs of Hong Kong by foreign forces’
Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Thursday said the incident once again exposed “the hypocrisy and double standard” of the United States, which was bent on undermining free speech and fairness in cyberspace to achieve its political objectives.
“The US is interfering in Hong Kong affairs using different excuses and has evil intentions in destroying Hong Kong’s chief executive election,” he said, adding Google was also complicit. “It is completely wrong and unreasonable. We firmly oppose this.”
The US and the West should immediately stop their meddling, Wang warned, without indicating whether Beijing would take action in response.
Hours later, the Hong Kong government issued a statement expressing “resolute opposition” to Google’s termination of Lee’s channel.
“[The government] expresses extreme outrage at any form of interference in the internal affairs of Hong Kong by foreign forces, which includes affecting the smooth holding of the chief executive election through undermining the freedoms of speech and of information dissemination, as well as the fairness and impartiality of the internet,” a spokesman said.
The “so-called sanctions” imposed by the US were blatant interference in China’s internal affairs on the pretext of human rights, democracy and autonomy, he added.
The condemnation came a day after the Post reported Google had terminated Lee’s election campaign channel on YouTube and Facebook had restricted his user status, with both citing a need to comply with American sanctions enacted in 2020 over the national security law.
The US Treasury Department targeted 11 current and former Chinese officials, including Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Lee, who was security chief at the time.
A check by the Post on Thursday found the YouTube campaign channel set up in 2017 by Lam was still operating. More than 100 videos have been uploaded on the channel, which has received 67,390 views so far.
A Google spokeswoman said it was “reviewing [Lam’s] channel”. The Post has also reached out to the Chief Executive Office for comment.
In Hong Kong, Bernard Chan, a top adviser to Lam, called the termination of Lee’s channel “unfortunate” and an “isolated incident”, but he saw no point in escalating the issue.
“What can you do about it? Even if you blow it up, I don’t see what good it will do for others?” he said. “Sometimes these channels felt helpless, involuntary too, amid international political wrestling.”
Chan said he believed Lee’s campaign would be unaffected by the move and that Hong Kong had more important work to consider, such as bringing the Covid-19 pandemic under control and boosting the economy.
Thomas Kellogg, executive director at the Centre for Asian Law at Georgetown University in Washington, argued the US government and the international community should review their policies toward Hong Kong and mainland China.
“[Lee’s] heavy security focus will only make a bad human rights situation worse,” he said. “That said, it seems clear that further US sanctions won’t change Beijing’s policies in Hong Kong. It’s time for both the US government and the international community to start thinking through other policy tools that might have a stronger impact on human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong.”
Lee, a former career police officer, said on Wednesday he was disappointed but unfazed by the termination of his campaign channel, and, if anything, the ban had galvanised him to soldier on in his campaign for the May 8 election by a 1,454-member group of voters.
The former No 2 official did not meet the press on Thursday, but in one of his Facebook posts, Lee asked the public to leave him messages on the platform, as well as on Instagram or WhatsApp, about their expectations for the future of Hong Kong.
He also shared on Facebook a virtual meeting with committee members from the industrial, commercial and financial sectors.
Some expressed concerns about recovery plans after the city’s fifth Covid-19 wave. Poman Lo, executive director of Regal Hotels International, asked when quarantine-free travel across the border could resume and suggested those who had taken three doses of a coronavirus vaccine should be given priority in travelling to the mainland.
Jason Wong Chun-tat, an honorary adviser of the Travel Industry Council, said he hoped the next government could help travel agencies, adding that more than 1,600 had suspended operations.
Lee vowed that once elected he would hold talks with his mainland counterparts on the resumption of quarantine-free travel.
Hong Kong’s image needed to be rebuilt, Lee said, adding that officials would head to the mainland and overseas to promote opportunities in the city so as to attract more talent and encourage a variety of economic activities.
