The demise of Hong Kong’s free press at the hands of Beijing, its government, and its own publishers
For the first time in Hong Kong’s history, the government has denied both a work and a tourist visa to veteran journalist Victor Mallet, who was also the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club’s (FCC) vice president.
An escalating series of events caused the Financial Times’ Asia editor’s effective expulsion: Shortly after the Hong Kong government officially banned the Hong Kong National Party in late September 2018, the Club announced that it would invite Andy Chan to speak at a Club luncheon. Chan founded the city’s first political party advocating for independence from China. The party was virtually unknown among the local community prior to the ban. Indeed, it was unclear whether it had any members apart from Chan.
A week later, Hong Kong Free Press, a crowdfunded non-profit news site, broke the story that the Hong Kong office of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs tried to block the Club from hosting Chan. The club stood its ground and faced intense backlash. The city’s former top official Chun Ying Leung claimed that hosting the event would be illegal, and even called on the government to terminate the Club’s below-market-rate lease.
Within days, Victor Mallet, who hosted the event as acting president of the Club, found that his work visa had not been renewed. Mallet doesn’t believe the threat was personal but “a form of punishment,” noting that the government had never claimed that the Club event was illegal.
Mallet says he was set to move to Paris this year, so the visa denial only expedited his relocation. He believes that worse things could happen to a journalist, but nevertheless worried, “It is the first time this has happened in Hong Kong,” he says. “It would not be surprising in China’s context, but it is in Hong Kong.”
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam issued a statement that immigration matters are decided autonomously within Hong Kong and as a rule, the government does not comment on individual immigration cases. “I think that’s nonsense,” Mallet says.
“This has been bad for Hong Kong’s reputation,” he says, “because it suggests Hong Kong is not as autonomous as it claims.”
While Beijing may interfere with freedom of expression in Hong Kong, it has long been known that local media chiefs meet with Beijing officials, sometimes directly relaying their message for the media.
In October 2018, publishers from Hong Kong’s mainstream press traveled to Beijing for a meeting with Communist Party Propaganda Department Chief Huang Kunming. During an interview afterward, Siu Sai Wo, the head of one of Hong Kong’s largest media groups, Singtao News Corps, reported that Huang had said he hoped Hong Kong media would not become a base for interfering with mainland politics.
Several publications later removed the quote from their coverage, without explanation. Hong Kong’s Cable TV deleted the original live video from its Facebook page.
Hong Kong news publishers have long had a working relationship with Beijing officials, if not a compliant one. But the Hong Kong government’s latest push for a fugitive transfer bill with the Mainland and Taiwan maybe the death knell to what used to be a free press.
Once passed, the government will allow the transfer of fugitives for trial and detention in mainland China on a case-by-case basis.
Shirley Yam, vice president of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, says the Chinese government has a history of harassing journalists with criminal charges irrelevant to their work, such as drug possession or smuggling, to stop them reporting or detaining and interrogating them about their sources. Such charges will be covered by the amendment.
Under the new bill, “Sources and their contacts will hesitate to pass any sensitive information to journalists in Hong Kong,” says Yam. This will effectively stifle critical or politically sensitive stories on China.
In the past year, the Hong Kong government has aggressively pushed for laws to restrict freedom of expression, including the national anthem law, which prohibits insulting the anthem or using it for parody or commercial purposes, and the fugitive transfer bill. On the other hand, Yam says, the government has barely engaged with advocates who have long campaigned for the archives law and the access to information law, which protect freedom of expression and of the press.
Lam Wing Kee, one of the five Hong Kong booksellers kidnapped and detained in the Mainland for publishing books critical of China’s top leadership. Lam was taken across the border by Chinese security agents, but after he returned to Hong Kong for a short stay, he defied orders to return to the Mainland. As of this writing, Lam has fled to Taiwan in self-imposed exile.
“If I am the bureau head of an international medium in Hong Kong,” says Yam, “I will certainly be seriously thinking about if Hong Kong a good place for the Asia bureau.” They will consider whether journalists safe to report on China from Hong Kong, he says, and whether editors may lose their working visa at any time.
Although the Journalists Association has called the bill “a sword hanging over the head of journalists,” Yam says that it’s worrying that the industry doesn’t seem to be bothered by what’s going on. “The management and the editors (of Hong Kong media) are silent,” she says. “This really bothers me.”
A list of Hong Kong press freedom incidents in 2018–2019
1 July 2018
The Hong Kong-China Liaison Office was reported to have met with local media chiefs requesting that their publications refrain from quoting commentators who were “anti-China.”
5 July 2018
A management-level editorial staff member at RTHK, Hong Kong’s public broadcaster, was reported to have asked a reporter not to quote comments by veteran HK-China affairs commentator Lau Yui Siu because he was “anti-China.”
3 August 2018
Beijing officials in Hong Kong attempted to block pro-independence activist Andy Chan from speaking at Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club.
23 August 2018
Former Hong Kong chief executive Chun Ying Leung publicly criticized the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club for hosting a talk by Andy Chan, and called for termination of the Club’s land lease.
4 October 2018
Hong Kong denied a visa renewal for Financial Times journalist and Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club Vice President Victor Mallet.
17 October 2018
Singtao CEO and Publisher Siu Sai Wo quoted the Communist Party’s Propaganda Department chief Huang Kunming for saying, “Beijing hopes Hong Kong media will not become a political basecamp for interfering with mainland politics” during a meeting with Hong Kong media chiefs. Multiple mainstream media outlets removed the quote from their coverage shortly after without explanation. It was reported that the Hong Kong-China Liaison Office had requested news outlets make the amendment.
2 November 2018
Self-exiled Chinese artist Badiucao’s exhibition, organized by independent non-profit news outlet Hong Kong Free Press, was canceled. Organizers said it was the result of threats that Chinese authorities made to the artist.
8 November 2018
Public art space Tai Kwun canceled an invitation to Chinese author Ma Jian, who was scheduled to speak during the Hong Kong Literary Festival. It rescinded the decision following public outcry.
21 February 2019
The funeral of Li Rui, veteran Chinese reformist and personal secretary to Mao Zedong, was conspicuously absent from the prime-time evening newscast of Hong Kong’s largest public broadcaster TVB. Management allegedly ordered the funeral to be excluded at the request of Hong Kong-China Liaison Office because Li had been critical of Xi Jinping.
22 March 2019
Former Hong Kong chief executive Chun Ying Leung publishes daily Facebook posts to highlight full-page ads on Apple Daily. He publicly urged advertisers not to advertise on Hong Kong’s most circulated, anti-establishment daily.
Selina Cheng is a journalist based in Hong Kong.
