A Hong Kong arts center hosting a high-profile literary festival has canceled appearances by exiled Chinese writer Ma Jian (馬建), the author said yesterday, as Beijing tightens its grip on the territory.
Rights group Amnesty International said it was more evidence that freedom of expression in Hong Kong was “under attack.”
Ma, who now lives in London, writes dark and satirical works depicting life in China and his books are banned on the mainland.
He was due to promote his latest novel, China Dream, later this week, a title that plays on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) rhetoric of national rejuvenation and is described by publisher Penguin as “a biting satire of totalitarianism.”
The author announced on Twitter that his two speaking events had been canceled by Tai Kwun arts center, where the festival is held, not by festival organizers who he said were trying to find another venue.
“An alternative venue will have to be found. No reason has been given to me yet,” he said in his tweet.
Tai Kwun is the result of a multimillion-dollar renovation of a colonial-era prison and police station, led by the government and the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
The Hong Kong International Literary Festival confirmed that it had been asked by Tai Kwun to change the venue for two events.
“We aren’t speculating on the reasons for the move and instead focus on our mission of ensuring our authors are all heard,” festival director Phillipa Milne said in a statement.
Tai Kwun did not respond to a request for comment.
“There is a clear pattern in which those who peacefully discuss politically sensitive ideas, or even provide platforms to debate such issues, are increasingly coming under pressure,” said Patrick Poon (潘嘉偉), a China researcher at Amnesty International.
Hong Kong has rights unseen on the mainland, protected by an agreement made before it was handed back to China by Britain in 1997, but there are fears they are being steadily eroded.
A highly anticipated art show by Chinese political cartoonist Badiucao (巴丟草) was canceled last week with Hong Kong organizers citing safety concerns due to “threats made by Chinese authorities relating to the artist.”
Hong Kong authorities also faced a major backlash when they denied a visa without explanation last month to a Financial Times journalist who had chaired a press club talk by a Hong Kong independence activist.
The territory’s publishing sector has taken a hit since five booksellers known for printing gossipy titles about Chinese leaders disappeared in 2015 and resurfaced in custody on the mainland.
Since then some of Hong Kong’s bookshops selling works banned in China have closed and chain stores have removed them from their shelves.
Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong has indirect ownership of a local publishing conglomerate that runs more than half the bookshops in the territory, according to local media.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in