Beijing imposed a national security law after large and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019.
(AFP) — Hong Kong’s security chief warned the city’s media union against “misusing” its position Friday, the day before it was due to hold committee elections.
The financial hub’s press freedom ranking has plummeted since Beijing imposed a wide-ranging national security law in 2020, and the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) has come under mounting pressure from officials in recent years.
The union had several hundred members at its peak, but this year’s leadership election had to be postponed from June because of a lack of candidates.
Asked about the election at a media briefing Friday, Security Secretary Chris Tang warned against “the issue of certain organizations misusing the title of ‘union’ to engage in activities unrelated to unions.”
“I want to warn everyone: regardless of the name or guise you adopt, if you seek to endanger national security, collude with foreign forces or subvert state power, I can assure you that I will nail you, and you will bear the consequences,” he said.
Beijing imposed a national security law after huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019, and Hong Kong has since introduced its own homegrown security law as well.
Critics say the legislation has been wielded to criminalize almost all forms of dissent.
Hong Kong was once known for its many freewheeling and independent news outlets, with the pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily and its outspoken founder Jimmy Lai at the center of a vibrant media landscape.
However, many outlets have disbanded since the national security law was enacted, with Lai sentenced to 20 years in prison in December for foreign collusion and seditious publication.
Founded in 1968, the HKJA is Hong Kong’s longest-established journalists’ organization and one of the last remaining groups advocating for media rights in the city.
‘Harassment campaigns’
The occasion of its postponed election prompted attacks from the city’s pro-Beijing media.
“The HKJA has long since lost any representativeness within the industry and has degenerated into a platform for forces seeking to destabilize Hong Kong,” read an op-ed published Friday in Ta Kung Pao, which is affiliated with Beijing’s liaison office.
Tang said at the media briefing that the HKJA’s electoral candidates were all employed by foreign or online media outlets and that there were suspicions of “black-box dealings” because the names of the candidates were not published.
HKJA interim chair Selina Cheng said in response that the information was not public “due to intense harassment campaigns against our board in recent years, including during this election.”
“We have always submitted our board information to the union registry as the law requires,” she said.
Reporters Without Borders said it was “outraged by the harassment campaign unfolding on multiple fronts” against the HKJA.
“These latest attempts to intimidate members of the free press are a clear effort to discourage journalists from defending and supporting the severely weakened media environment via the association,” the advocacy group’s Asia-Pacific advocacy manager Aleksandra Bielakowska said in a statement.
“We cannot allow Beijing to dismantle what remains of the territory’s independent journalism community.”
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