Authoritarian Rulers Issue Fashion Statement

Michael Hedges June 26, 2021 - Follow on Twitter

After enduring eons of wars, pestilence and plague - not to forget water damage - world leaders came to agree that prosperity, usually for themselves, would rise when all those bad things were brought to an end. The world became intertwined, more or less. Happiness ensued. As the planet became more crowded, not to forget warmer, the competitive instinct rose. And along with it grievance.

Just a few days after the publisher of Hong Kong news outlet Apple Daily made a statement by printing 500,000 copies, which sold-out in hours, the next shoe dropped. First, the online editions ceased publication. Then the print edition stopped (June 24) but not before one million copies of the finale were printed and distributed. Then it was finished. Apple Daily had published for 26 years.

Publisher Next Digital had appealed to the authorities for release of US$2.3 million cash reserves so employees could be paid. Crickets. Closure was necessary, said a spokesperson to AP (June 24) to protect employees’ safety. The dye was cast. People’s Republic of China (PRC) authorities, who rule Hong Kong absolutely, resolved to make make their final statement. They don’t care.

News outlets around the world followed the final months of the Apple Daily saga with rapt attention. There was the first police raid last year on the Next Digital offices after the oppressive National Security Law came into effect. Publisher Jimmy Lai was arrested and jailed. Reporters, photographers and executives were rounded up. Apple Daily was still critical and still being published. Then came the big raid, 500 security police entered the building, scooping up files, laptops and mobile phones.

Through all this statements of support for the Apple Daily staff - and criticism of PRC and Hong Kong authorities - filled terabytes of digital pages. “China’s national security law for Hong Kong has been revealed to be exactly what critics feared: a ready-made instrument to suppress independent news coverage,” said International Press Institute (IPI) executive director Barbara Trionfi, quoted by Reuters (June 24). “Apple Daily’s closure is the latest consequence of moves by China to stifle fundamental freedoms and political pluralism in Hong Kong using the national security law,” said European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, to Politico EU (June 24). “These actions undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy under the ‘one country, two systems’ principle and contradict China’s international commitments. They undermine trust and impact EU-China relations.” US President Joe Biden said Apple Daily had been "a much-needed bastion of independent journalism in Hong Kong” and its closing was “a sad day,” quoted by Reuters.

"We sternly condemn the political suppression of Hong Kong media under the national security law and by those in power,” said Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council in a statement, quoted by AFP (June 24). Apple Daily’s Taiwan digital edition, also a Next Digital subsidiary, will continue publishing. Earlier Taiwan evacuated all but one employee from its Hong Kong trade office on being required to sign a document affirming the “One China” policy.

Unsurprisingly, PRC Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian called the global criticism “factually baseless.” To underscore its intention further restrain press freedom and civil liberties hardline security operatives John Lee and Chris Tang were promoted by the PRC. “Hong Kong is starting to look more like a police state, with the No. 2 position now being filled by a hardliner whose recent achievement is to cripple a newspaper," said Hong Kong activist investor David Webb to Bloomberg (June 26).

See UPDATE

• Authorities rail about fake news, demand employee list from shuttered newspaper
  clear message

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• Hot Topics - Media in China

• Hot Topics - Press/Media Freedom

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