Arise! China

Wednesday, 23 June 2021

Closure of Hong Kong's Apple Daily - What people are saying about it

23 Jun 2021 — HONG KONG, June 23 (Reuters) - Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple ... "Its closing seriously undermines media freedom and pluralism, ...

HONG KONG, June 23 (Reuters) - Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily printed 1 million copies of its last edition on Thursday, after a year in which it was raided by police and its tycoon owner and other staff were arrested under a national security law.

Here are some comments from Hong Kong residents and others in reaction to the news.

DICKSON NG, 51, APPLE DAILY DESIGNER

“(After) today, there is no press freedom in Hong Kong ... I cannot see any future in Hong Kong.

"I feel very disappointed and angry today. I don't understand why our limited group, company, and the newspapers were forced to stop operating under such circumstances."

CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY

"I want to emphasise, Hong Kong is a society that has rule of law. Everyone is equal in front of the law, no one or no organisation is above the law. All rights and freedom, including media freedom, cannot go beyond the bottom line of national security."

TAIWAN'S CHINA POLICY-MAKING MAINLAND AFFAIRS COUNCIL

"This unfortunate incident has not only sounded the death knell for freedom of press, publication, and speech in Hong Kong, but has also allowed the international community to see for themselves the Communist Party regime's totalitarianism and autocracy."

APPLE DAILY SUPPORTER SAN TSANG, 27, VETERINARY NURSE

“I think it’s the end of an era so I want to come out and buy a copy. Also I don’t understand why (Hong Kong) can’t even tolerate a newspaper.”

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL'S ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL DIRECTOR, YAMINI MISHRA

"The forced closure of Apple Daily is the blackest day for media freedom in Hong Kong’s recent history. The paper has been effectively banned by the government for publishing articles that criticized it, and for reporting on international discussions about Hong Kong. This is an unacceptable attack on freedom of expression.

“The arrests of Apple Daily staff, seizing of journalistic materials and freezing of its assets will send a shiver down the spine of all media outlets operating in Hong Kong. It is also deeply alarming for the readers whose media consumption is now effectively being curbed by the authorities – just as it is for people in mainland China."

RONSON CHAN, HEAD OF HONG KONG JOURNALISTS' ASSOCIATION

"We urge the government to fulfil the promise of safeguarding press freedom ... to let people working in the news industry serve Hong Kong without fear.

Papers showing "I love Apple Daily" are placed inside the headquarters of the Apple Daily newspaper and its publisher Next Digital in Hong Kong, China June 23, 2021. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

"We will be very worried if there are consequences for writing an article. I’m afraid that it will make society feel, or how I feel now, that people can be put in prison because of what they write. It leads to a huge worry for the city’s freedom of speech."

BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER DOMINIC RAAB

"The forced closure of Apple Daily by the Hong Kong authorities is a chilling blow to freedom of expression in Hong Kong.

"It is crystal clear that the powers under the national security law are being used as a tool to curtail freedoms and punish dissent - rather than keep public order."

BARBARA TRIONFI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL PRESS INSTITUTE

“The harassment of Apple Daily is yet another effort by authorities in Beijing to silence a critical news outlet.

"This violates the right of Hong Kong’s people to access independent news and is a further step toward the eradication of press freedom in the Special Administrative Region.

“One year after its enactment, 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.

"The international community must not remain silent as Hong Kong’s freedoms are removed brick-by-brick. The IPI global network stands in solidarity with Apple Daily’s journalists and staff.”

JOHNNY KU, 55, WORKS IN BUILDING MANAGEMENT

"If Apple Daily can't survive, then there is no press freedom. If such a strong organisation can also lose its voice, I think other media organisations will also be scared."

EUROPEAN UNION SPOKESPERSON

"The closure of Apple Daily's Hong Kong operations clearly shows how the National Security Law imposed by Beijing is being used to stifle freedom of the press and the free expression of opinions.

"Its closing seriously undermines media freedom and pluralism, which are essential for any open and free society. The erosion of press freedom is also counter to Hong Kong's aspirations as an international business hub."

MARIA TSE, 39, WORKS IN EDUCATION

"My emotions are just like the weather, raining. I'm quite sad, because it's a newspaper I've been reading from a young age."

Source

Saturday, 22 May 2021

China downgrades diplomatic ties with Lithuania over Taiwan row

China has downgraded its diplomatic relations with Lithuania, days after the Baltic state allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy there.

22 November 2021

A sign announcing Taiwan's representative office in Lithuania — Image caption,
Taiwan's representative office in Lithuania is its first new European outpost in 18 years

China has downgraded its diplomatic relations with Lithuania, days after the Baltic state allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy there.

Lithuania defended its right to have ties with Taiwan, but said it respected the "One China" policy.

Taiwan's new office in Lithuania does not equate to official diplomatic relations but could be seen as a sign of growing ties between both places.

Beijing considers Taiwan part of China, but Taiwan sees itself as independent.

The new office bears the name Taiwan rather than "Chinese Taipei", the name used by many foreign nations to avoid offending China.

This is the island's first new diplomatic outpost in Europe in 18 years. Taiwan has few allies with whom it has formal ties, due to China's pressure.

The One China policy is the diplomatic acknowledgement of China's position that there is only one Chinese government.

However, it is distinct from the One China principle, whereby China insists Taiwan is an inalienable part of one China to be reunified one day.

China's foreign ministry said the move had "undermined China's sovereignty and territorial integrity" and created a "bad precedent internationally".

It said it would reduce its diplomatic engagement with the country to the level of charge d'affaires, one rung down from an ambassadorship.

Lithuania's prime minister defended her nation's plans for greater engagement with Taiwan - a major supplier of semiconductors, lasers and other high-tech industry.

"Our government's programme says Lithuania wants a more intense economic, cultural and scientific relationship with Taiwan," Ingrida Simonyte said, according to Reuters.

"[But] I want to emphasise that this step does not mean any conflict or disagreement with the 'One China' policy."

The US has also offered its support to Lithuania to withstand Beijing.

Lithuania's move could be seen as the latest sign of some central European nations seeking greater relations with Taiwan even amid pressure from Beijing.

Last month, China spoke out after a delegation of Taiwanese officials were granted visits to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Lithuania.

Taiwan currently has only has formal diplomatic recognition from 15 nations - most of which are Pacific or Latin American nations.

While governments like the US and Japan have fostered extensive commercial ties with Taiwan, they uphold official diplomatic ties with China and recognise its One China policy.

Friday, 7 May 2021

SOAS lecturers told to wipe references to Hong Kong and China

7 May 2021 — SOAS has told academics not to record lectures or seminar discussions to avoid the risk of staff being arrested when visiting Hong Kong or ...

SOAS’ decision follows Hong Kong’s June 2020 security law, which puts academics at risk of imprisonment

Isobel Glover

News
LONDON

SOAS has instructed academics not to record lectures or seminar discussions to avoid the risk of staff being arrested when visiting Hong Kong or China.

In June 2020, Hong Kong introduced a new security law that facilitates the act of punishing individuals who protest both inside and outside the territory. The law criminalises any act of secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign or external forces.

As a result of this law, SOAS believes that academics are at risk of being arrested and jailed for carrying lecture notes or laptops containing their work when travelling to those areas.

Due to the vagueness of what constitutes subversion, a wide range of topics are potentially “off-limits.” Many of these topics “lie at the heart of the social sciences and humanities”, meaning that teaching materials used for such subjects may be used as evidence of a violation of the security law.

The China Research Group, set up to monitor the challenges and opportunities associated with China, warns that the law is not restricted to Hong Kong residents or activities in the region. In an interview with The Times, Neil O’Brien, a CRG member, said:

“This shows the incredible reach of new repressive laws in China — students in London are being advised they could be arrested on the basis of their lecture notes if passing through Hong Kong.

“We have seen how Beijing tries to stifle criticism in democratic countries including their recent decision to sanction MPs, academics and lawyers here.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg — through funding agreements and partnerships with UK universities, Beijing can gain a lot of influence on our universities and I worry this is already having a stifling effect on lectures and tutorials happening in the UK.”

SOAS’ guidance has identified five areas of risk: teaching materials, staff travelling to Hong Kong or China, students travelling to Hong Kong or China, employing research assistants based in these areas, and the threat from collaboration with colleagues based in Hong Kong or China who “may not have a choice if they are asked to collaborate an investigation against their foreign partners”.

In a statement on the matter, SOAS highlighted their duty of care to students and staff saying:

“Computers which colleagues use on a regular basis may include information about students who may have said or written something that can be deemed to have violated the Hong Kong National Security Law.

“Since this law is so stringent and has extra-territorial applicability, our duty of care to our students from Hong Kong and Mainland China requires us to make sure that computers that staff may carry with them to HK and Mainland China do not contain information that can potentially land our students into trouble with this law.

“The risk of this happening is low, but if only one of our current or former students ends up being caught out by the National Security Law because of an action or an inaction on our part, it falls below the standards we uphold at SOAS.”

Related story recommended by this writer:

• UCL Amnesty stall on democracy in Hong Kong closed down due to security concerns

Source

Friday, 12 March 2021

The disinformation tactics used by China

The Chinese embassy in London has criticised the BBC following a documentary about Chinese disinformation campaigns.

By Krassi Twigg and Kerry Allen
BBC Monitoring

Published

12 March 2021

Street view of riot police and protesters in Hong Kong

IMAGE SOURCE,REUTERS

Image caption,

Facebook and Twitter removed accounts linked to China during unrest in Hong Kong in 2019

There have also recently been a series of denials from Beijing over reports into forced imprisonment of its minority Uighur population - these have included baseless accusations against media and human rights organisations.

In the latest attack, an official falsely claimed a Uighur interviewee on a BBC programme was an actress.

So what tactics does China use in the spread of misleading and false information?

Increasing anti-BBC coverage

There have been almost daily anti-BBC articles in Chinese state media since mid-February.

It follows a decision by the UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom to revoke the licence for China's state-run overseas broadcaster, CGTN.

For years, China has broadly criticised Western outlets for reports on affairs in Xinjiang and elsewhere in China, saying they should not intervene in China's "internal affairs".

But these latest attacks on Western media are a clear escalation.

Chinese domestic media outlets have praised their government for banning the BBC's World News channel, although it was only available in some international hotels and residential compounds where foreigners live.

Reports from leading outlets like China's Global Times have criticised the "Cold War" mentality when it comes to China - on topics ranging from Hong Kong, the Uighur population of Xinjiang and the Covid-19 pandemic.

When China was facing a backlash over its handling of early stages of the pandemic last year, and some US officials were floating the theory that the virus could have escaped from a Wuhan lab, CGTN started to push its own conspiracy theory.

Covid lab leak in China 'extremely unlikely' - WHO

Despite a complete lack of evidence, the station suggested the virus originated at a military base in Maryland in the US and was brought to China by American soldiers during an athletics competition.

Find out more

Listen to File on 4's The Disinformation Dragon with Krassimira Twigg and Paul Kenyon on BBC Sounds

'Wolf warriors' on social media

In recent months, China experts have noticed dozens of new and highly active official social media accounts representing Chinese embassies and leading diplomats.

This has become known as "wolf warrior" diplomacy. The best-known account belongs to Zhao Lijian from the Chinese foreign ministry.

He caused controversy in March after tweeting articles suggesting that coronavirus originated in the United States.

Composite picture of websites — Image caption,
The US and China traded unverified theories about the origins of coronavirus

Those tweets have been shared more than 40,000 times and referenced in 54 different languages, according to research from the Digital Forensic Research Lab, part of the Atlantic Council think tank.

Popular hashtags referencing the posts have made waves at home too - they've been viewed by users of Chinese social network Weibo more than 300 million times.

In December, Zhao Lijian was widely criticised for sharing a fake image of an Australian soldier killing an Afghan child, for which China refused to apologise.

'Keyboard army'

China draws on millions of citizens to monitor the internet and influence public opinion on a massive scale online. These recruits are known as the "50 cent army" - so named because of reports that they were paid 0.5 yuan per post.

This "keyboard army" has long been active on Chinese social media platforms. Its aim has been to aggressively defend and protect China's image overseas.

When tweeting in English, the messages are aimed at a Western audience, much like troll farms in Russia that sow discord.

To the unsuspecting reader, they might appear as patriotic citizens acting independently, but frequently they are taking directions from Chinese authorities.

One example is the way in which video footage of violent protests in Hong Kong in 2019 was promoted on social media via this keyboard army using terms such as "terrorism", while coverage of peaceful protests was censored.

In August 2019, Facebook and Twitter announced they had removed accounts linked to a state-backed information campaign.

Facebook said: "Although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their identities, our investigation found links to individuals associated with the Chinese government."

Twitter identified more than 900 accounts from China. But these were only the most active components of the campaign, which the company said involved some 200,000 accounts.

Fake social media accounts

A BBC investigation in May 2020 found hundreds of fake or hijacked social media accounts promoting pro-China messages on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Some 1,200 accounts targeted people critical of how Beijing was handling the pandemic.

There was no definitive evidence tying these accounts to the Chinese government, but it did display similar characteristics to the state-backed network removed by Facebook and Twitter in 2019.

It also resembled another network dubbed "Spamouflage Dragon", which pumped out pro-China posts and attacked critics with spam, which was uncovered by the social analytics firm Graphika.

Subsequently Twitter said it had removed more than 23,000 accounts linked to China involved in a range of "manipulative and co-ordinated activities".

In response to comments made by Yang Xiaoguang, from the Chinese Embassy in the UK on the BBC Today programme, a BBC spokesman said: "We completely reject these claims and stand by our journalism. BBC News reporting in Xinjiang has been accurate and impartial - we did not use any false images and the interviewee who appeared on the BBC was not an 'actress' as claimed."

Additional reporting by Jack Goodman