The Hong Kong Journalist Association (HKJA) said that freedom of expression in general and press freedom in the territory in particular are likely to be further harmed as more Hong Kong mainstream media outlets come under the control of Chinese interests.
“We must stay vigilant to safeguard our rights,” HKJA chairman Chris Yeung (楊健興) said in a statement on Sunday to mark the publication of the group’s annual report, adding that Beijing is increasingly encroaching on Hong Kong’s autonomy and unprofessional Chinese media practices are spilling over to Hong Kong media.
The annual report, titled Two Systems Under Siege, said that Beijing’s pressure is likely to exacerbate the worsening issue of self-censorship as Hong Kong media outlets controlled by Chinese interests “report ‘forced confessions’ and muzzle dissenting voices.”
These trends would increase as more Chinese interests gain stakes in Hong Kong media organizations, the association said in the report.
It said that by the end of the year, with the addition of i-CABLE Communications, nine out of 26 mainstream media outlets would be under Chinese control or have Chinese stakes, raising the proportion to 35 percent.
More than 85 percent of media owners or top newsroom managers have been incorporated in various ways into Chinese or Hong Kong establishments, the report said.
It urged Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s (林鄭月娥) administration to take immediate action to defend Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and to refrain from enacting national security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law until society reaches a consensus on the issue.
The association also called for Lam’s government to enact freedom of information and archive laws to ensure that Hong Kongers, including journalists, have proper access to government information and documents, and to grant online media reporters carrying out legitimate journalistic work equal access to government facilities and news feeds.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai