The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) and the Hong Kong Press Photographers Association (HKPPA) are “disappointed” by Commissioner of Police Chris Tang Ping-keung’s failure to pledge to stop using violence against journalists covering the protests.

Following a meeting on May 25, the two groups said they welcomed an apology from Commissioner Tang for his officers’ misconduct against reporters on Shantung Street in Mong Kok on May 10. 

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong is in the process of setting up a meeting with representatives of the Hong Kong Police Force to discuss, among other things, the club’s opposition to any effort to set up a licensing or accreditation system for the media in Hong Kong. Such a system would be considered a serious erosion of press freedoms guaranteed here. 

You can read the joint HKJA and HKPPA statement here.

It is feared that the national security law proposed by China will stifle press freedom and cripple independent media in Hong Kong, the International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, said.

The National People’s Congress of China is meeting in Beijing this week and is expected to pass a controversial new law, aimed at banning activities in Hong Kong that would amount to sedition, secession and subversion.

“The secrecy surrounding the bill has prevented any public discussion about legal changes expected to severely affect the rights of people in Hong Kong and undermine the “one country, two systems” principle, sparking off fears that the government could use the proposed law to silence critical voices”, IPI Executive Director Barbara Trionfi said. “There are also concerns that China might use it to expel foreign journalists covering the mainland from Hong Kong.”

China has aggressively tried to increase its control over independent media in Hong Kong. In 2017, journalists had voiced concerns over the deteriorating state of press freedom in the region, the increasing influence of the mainland through ownership of traditional media outlets, and an increase in self-censorship and attacks on journalists.

The move to enact the new law comes after the administration of Hong Kong failed to implement a controversial extradition bill last year that had sparked off violent protests. The bill, which provided for extradition of criminal suspects to be extradited to the mainland, was introduced by the Hong Kong Administration in April 2019, and withdrawn in October, as hundreds of thousands took to streets in protest.

As the protests against the extradition bill spiralled into a pro-democracy movement, journalists became a target of the police, and several of them were injured, including one who was splashed with corrosive liquid and another who was permanently blinded in one eye after being hit in the face by a police projectile.

On February 18 this year, China expelled three journalists of The Wall Street Journal in response to an opinion piece published in the newspaper and written by an outside commentator. China’s authorities described the article as “racist” and said that it “denigrated” the country’s efforts to combat the COVID-19 outbreak. The Chinese foreign ministry said WSJ had refused to apologise for the article.

A month later, journalists working for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal were asked to leave the country. A statement issued by the Chinese foreign ministry said that the decision to expel journalists with U.S. citizenship working for these publications was in response to the U.S. government’s “outrageous” decision in December 2018 to designate Chinese media outlets as foreign missions and in February this year to impose a limit on the number of employees at these outlets.

 

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong welcomes the meeting on Thursday between local press associations and representatives of the Hong Kong Police Force, and hopes it improves working conditions on the ground for journalists.

The FCC had sent a letter to Commissioner of Police, Chris Tang Ping-keung, asking to be included in this meeting, whose participants included the Hong Kong Journalists Association, the Hong Kong Press Photographers Association, the Hong Kong News Executives Association and the Hong Kong Federation of Journalists. The Hong Kong Police Force responded that it would prefer to meet with the FCC separately, given language differences and the unique concerns of foreign correspondents working in Hong Kong. The FCC has followed up with the Hong Kong Police Force on this offer and is working to arrange this meeting.

A delegation from the FCC Board of Governors met on Oct. 10 with representatives of the Hong Kong Police Force to discuss a number of issues of concern to our membership including police violence against journalists covering the protests last year, efforts to hinder journalists’ access to police actions on the ground and interference with press coverage of the unrest. The meeting was constructive and we agreed to continue to have a dialogue on this pressing issues.

Meanwhile, the FCC is in touch with local journalists’ organisations, and has held meetings to discuss how we can work together at this pivotal time for press freedom in Hong Kong. The FCC opposes any effort by the Hong Kong police or the Hong Kong government to establish a licensing or accreditation system for the media in Hong Kong as that would be what we consider a serious erosion of press freedoms guaranteed here. The FCC will follow up with the police and the press groups involved after their meeting to better understand the nature of the discussions.

The Asian American Journalists Association’s Asia Chapter (AAJA-Asia) released this statement on May 8. 

The Asian American Journalists Association’s Asia Chapter (AAJA-Asia) strongly condemns the Philippine government’s shutdown of ABS-CBN, the country’s largest broadcaster. The Philippine National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) — a government regulatory agency under the office of the president — issued a  “cease and desist” order against the popular news outlet on May 5.

Read the full statement here.

The International Press Institute (IPI) released a statement on April 20, 2020, condemning the arrest of Next Media group founder, Jimmy Lai.

“Alarm bells should be ringing loudly over the arrest of Jimmy Lai”, IPI Deputy Director Scott Griffen said. “His detention is a sign that while the world is distracted by the coronavirus pandemic, China is moving to clamp down on independent media in Hong Kong in the wake of the territory’s pro-democracy movement. Hong Kong authorities should drop charges against Lai and protect the free flow of independent news and information – something the world needs now more than ever.”

You can read the full report here.

Last month, we wrote to the Hon Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and the Director of Immigration, Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, requesting answers to questions around the expulsion of some U.S. journalists from China and their visa status in Hong Kong, which have serious implications for press freedom in the city. Today, we publish the government’s response and a further letter from the FCC again asking for specific answers to our questions.

This statement was released by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China on March 18, 2020.

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China deplores the cancellation of reporting credentials for American journalists with three U.S. newspapers, an action that will affect at least 13 of our colleagues, a group of talented and dedicated professionals. The total number of affected journalists at the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post could be higher, depending on how broadly Chinese authorities implement this decision.

Their imminent banishment from journalism in China diminishes us in number and in spirit, though not in our commitment to vigorously cover China. There are no winners in the use of journalists as diplomatic pawns by the world’s two pre-eminent economic powers. Journalists illuminate the world we live in. China, through this action, is dimming itself.

The FCCC also deeply regrets that authorities in Beijing have taken the further step of banning affected journalists from reporting in Hong Kong and Macau. The FCCC is not aware of any precedent for such a requirement.

Prior to today, China had expelled nine foreign journalists since 2013. Others have been denied visas altogether.

Since the beginning of 2019, at least 13 correspondents have also been given truncated-term visas with validity of six months or less. Since the beginning of 2020, three of those correspondents have been given one-month visas. Resident visas are typically issued for a year. By expelling journalists and keeping others in a state of visa uncertainty, China is overtly using its powers in an attempt to influence overseas news coverage, by punishing those who publish information authorities see as unfavorable and wish to keep quiet.

Foreign correspondents working in China are subject to surveillance and government pressure, in an environment of extreme hostility toward the types of factual reporting Chinese authorities claim to welcome. Such conduct is as unacceptable as it is longstanding.

In “Control, Halt, Delete,” the FCCC’s report on working conditions in 2019, 82% of surveyed correspondents said they experienced interference, harassment or violence while reporting; 70% reported the cancellation or withdrawal of interviews, which they know or believe to be due to actions taken by Chinese authorities; 25% were aware of sources being harassed, detained, called in for questioning, or otherwise suffering negative consequences for interacting with a foreign journalist; and 51% said they were obstructed at least once by police or other officials. Of those who reported from China’s north-western Xinjiang region, 65% were prevented from accessing locations by what they believe to be staged traffic accidents or road blockages.

Read the FCC Hong Kong’s statement on the expulsions of U.S. journalists 

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong, is alarmed at the decision of the Chinese government to expel U.S. journalists working for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. The FCC is even more concerned by reports that they will be banned from working as journalists in Hong Kong, given that Hong Kong has its own system under which press freedom is a right according to the law.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructed American journalists for the three news organisations whose press credentials are set to expire this year to “notify the Department of Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within four calendar days starting from today and hand back their press cards within ten calendar days”.

It added that the journalists “will not be allowed to continue working as journalists in the People’s Republic of China, including its Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions”.

Under the Basic Law, all decisions about employment visas for foreign nationals in Hong Kong, including journalists, have been made independently by the Immigration Department.

If that system has changed, it would represent a serious erosion of the One Country, Two Systems principle.

The Hong Kong government must immediately clarify the situation and must immediately and without reservation provide assurances that foreign journalists working in Hong Kong and those applying to work in Hong Kong will continue to be issued employment visas without interference from the Chinese government.

Read FCC China’s statement on the expulsions