Taiwan sees arrest of six Hong Kong journalists as China's crackdown on free speech

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and the island's largest opposition party have criticised China over the Hong Kong police raid on the city’s pro-democracy online media outlet Stand News and the arrest of six journalists for “conspiracy to publish seditious publications”. Island’s agency in charge of cross-strait affairs, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said that the raid and arrests were just the latest measures taken by China’s Communist regime to suppress press freedom in the former British colony. 

Tsai Ing-Wen said in a statement shared on Twitter that arrests of journalists including singer Denise Ho “are yet another example of the Beijing authorities' crackdown on free speech in Hong Kong. We in Taiwan regret to see their detention & call on the international community to stand up for freedom & democracy” in the city. 

Additionally, MAC noted that Stand News offices were raided despite the stipulations in Hong Kong’s Basic Law that ensure residents of the special administrative region freedom of speech, press and publication. In the press release, the agency added that the latest clampdown on pro-democracy media in Hong Kong is proof of the hypocrisy of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ administrative formula under which the city returned to Chinese rule. 

Taiwan’s government condemned all forms of misconduct in suppressing human rights as well as freedom in Hong Kong and urged the involved parties to stop serving as accomplices of Beijing. Taiwan’s criticism came after the Stand News office was raided, six journalists were arrested over ‘sedition’ and forced the non-profit media outlet to shut down. 

US denounces 'unjust' arrest of six Hong Kong journalists

Apart from Taiwan, the United States also denounced Hong Kong journalists’ arrests and termed it as ‘unjust’ while noting that “journalism is not sedition”. In a statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for the immediate release of media personnel who have been “unjustly detained and charged”.

Blinken also noted that freedom of expression and access to information “provided by an independent media is critical to prosperous and secure societies.” Denouncing the arrests, the US Secretary of State said that by “silencing” independent media, China and the city’s local authorities “undermine Hong Kong’s credibility and viability. A confident government that is unafraid of the truth embraces a free press.”

The latest crackdown of the independent media in the semi-autonomous region witnessed Hong Kong Police on 29 December held six persons, including the senior staff of an online pro-democracy media outlet, Stand News allegedly for “conspiracy to publish seditious publications”. The news outlet is now shut down. According to a Hong Kong Free Press report, more than 200 national security police officers were deployed to raid the offices of the non-profit online news outlet. 

(IMAGE: AP)