離開
進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Protesters decry closing of Stand News
Members of the Hong Kong Outlanders and other civic groups protest in front of a Bank of China branch in Taipei yesterday against the shuttering of Stand News in Hong Kong. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
SAFE HAVEN: Taiwan should aid reporters and media workers seeking to flee Hong Kong, while also preserving its own freedoms of press and speech, advocates said
By Chen Yu-fu and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Protesters yesterday gathered in front of a Bank of China branch in Taipei to speak out against the deterioration of press freedoms in Hong Kong, a day after the territory lost its biggest remaining pro-democracy news outlet.
Shouting “reporting the truth is not a crime,” members of the Hong Kong Outlanders and other organizations decried the shuttering on Wednesday of Stand News after a raid involving more than 200 police officers.
Freedom of the press is already dead in Hong Kong, Economic Democracy Union researcher Chiang Min-yen （江旻諺） said.
Although the territory no longer respects freedom of speech, Taiwan would continue to stand with Hong Kongers, he added.
Many people working in media need to leave Hong Kong, he said, urging the government to make it easier for Hong Kongers to come to Taiwan.
He also called on the legislature to pass an amendment already in the works that aims to make it harder for Chinese agents to infiltrate Taiwan through Hong Kong.
Now it is Stand News’ turn to close after Apple Daily stopped printing in Taiwan in May, followed a month later by the closure of the outlet’s Hong Kong operations, Taiwan Hong Kong Association director-general Sang Pu （桑普） said.
Criminalization of speech in the territory has become dire, and if allowed to continue, freedom of speech would be a thing of the past, Sang said.
Any reporters looking to visit Hong Kong might also be jailed, he added.
The only remaining outlets are Hong Kong Citizen News, Radio Free Asia and the Epoch Times, but it is likely only a matter of time until they close and are replaced by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency, he said, adding that the next crackdown could target political parties.
Taiwanese see what has happened in Hong Kong and must not follow the same path, Sang said, adding that there are already many collaborators and Beijing-friendly news outlets in Taiwan.
To help Taiwan avoid the same fate, it should open its doors to fleeing reporters, he said.
A Hong Kong Outlanders executive committee member who goes by the name Sky said the raid on Stand News shows that the pressure the media are under in Hong Kong is even worse than people previously believed.
Hong Kong In-Media yesterday morning also announced it would cease operations, as those familiar with the media landscape have said that the journalism environment has changed, Sky added.
Eric Tsui （徐承恩） said that as an author who covers Hong Kong history, his work would be considered “incendiary,” and any publication that would carry his articles would be part of a “conspiracy to publish incendiary material.”
Tsui said he also mourned Stand News’ closing for his personal connection to it, as the first piece he published nine years ago was carried by the outlet’s predecessor.
Stand News has always reported the truth from the 2019 “Yuen Long attack” to the “sham” election two weeks ago, as it was unafraid to cover topics that China’s agents dare not touch, Tsui said.
All that is left to do is turn anger into strength and keep carrying the “incendiary” torch for the sake of humanity, universal truth and freedom, he added.
Saying that Tibetans understand Chinese oppression, Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan director Tashi Tsering was also present at the protest alongside Taiwan Equality Campaign chief executive Jennifer Lu （呂欣潔）.
The LGBT movements in Taiwan and Hong Kong are intertwined, Lu said, calling on allies to stand in solidarity and speak out with the belief that one day the situation will improve.
On Wednesday, the government and the Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） condemned China’s actions, with the Mainland Affairs Council saying that the latest incident was further proof of the hypocrisy of the “one country, two systems” framework Beijing promised to Hong Kong, while the KMT urged Chinese authorities to respect young Hong Kongers’ views on democracy and freedom of expression.
Additional reporting by CNA
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
