The News
A Hong Kong court convicted two editors at the now-defunct pro-democracy outlet Stand News for conspiring to publish seditious articles Thursday, in a landmark case illustrating the city’s crackdown on dissent in light of its national security law.
Media advocacy groups condemned the ruling; a US State Department spokesperson wrote on X that it was “a direct attack on media freedom.”
Stand News, which shut down shortly after the editors’ arrest in 2021 to avoid broader consequences, had become a prominent outlet after it covered Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests, Reuters reported.
“I think of Stand News as a point of no return because it was very free, and with great ideals,” a former reporter for the outlet told Reuters.
SIGNALS
China has broken its promises to preserve freedom
When Hong Kong was handed back to China from Britain in 1997, Beijing promised to preserve the city’s freedoms for 50 years — but has since systematically cracked down on them, the Council on Foreign Relations noted. The Stand News case is seen as a huge blow to press freedom in the city that had already been severely restricted since China imposed its draconian national security law in 2020, in an attempt to quash dissent. Local news organizations self-censor to avoid scrutiny from authorities, The New York Times reported, and some foreign outlets have left. The remaining ones are fighting a quiet battle under pressure from Beijing, Semafor reported after the firing of a Wall Street Journal reporter in July.
Press freedom declining around the world
Once among the highest-ranking countries for journalists in Asia, Hong Kong has experienced a steep decline in press freedom — dropping to the 135th out of 180, according to French nonprofit Reporters Sans Frontières. But press freedom is dwindling outside of Hong Kong, too, as countries tighten restrictions and international bodies like the UN show “a clear lack of political will” in enforcing principles to protect journalists, the organization added. The nonprofit estimates that conditions for journalists were “satisfactory” only in one quarter of the world’s countries — and good in only eight of them.
Beijing’s crackdown affecting Hong Kong’s reputation as an economic hub
China’s sweeping crackdown on dissent is affecting Hong Kong’s reputation as an Asian financial hub, Semafor’s Liz Hoffman and DW reported. The city is at an “economic crossroads,” Hoffman wrote, as it walks a fine line between maintaining its status of being a center for trade with the West while still showing loyalty to Beijing. “If you’re trying to restrict freedom of association, assembly and expression, you’re going to have a spillover effect on rule of law and economic freedom,” a fellow at Canada’s Fraser Institute told DW. This has left room for other Asian hubs to take a bigger share of business, the outlet added, like Singapore, which has benefited from the US policy of “friendshoring” — prioritizing supply chain production in countries it sees as allies.