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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 HK using legal, informal means to restrict society
A man walks past a banner for the National Security Law in Hong Kong on July 15, 2020. Photo: AFP
By Chen Cheng-yu and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Hong Kong government has been restricting civil society through informal as well as legal means, effectively restricting the free flow of information, anonymous researchers wrote in a report released on Thursday to mark the third anniversary of the territory’s National Security Law.
The Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Hong Kong Outlanders, the Judicial Reform Foundation and the Taiwan Hong Kong Association yesterday held a news conference in Taipei to discuss the report.
The authors chose not to reveal their identities and only published the report online due to the dangers of being prosecuted under the law, Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Shih Yi-hsiang （施逸翔） said.
The authors of After the National Security Law: A Report on Hong Kong’s Censorship Mechanisms used information from more than 2,000 news articles between June 2020 and October last year to analyze legal and informal censorship measures utilized in the territory, the report says.
It concluded that there is a three-tiered framework of censorship mechanisms — government legal measures, government informal measures and non-government informal measures.
The first refers to legal measures such as the national security legislation, reactivation of colonial laws such as the anti-sedition law and broader enforcement of existing regulations with the intent to restrict civic activity, the report says.
It is through these means that Hong Kong authorities have arrested activists with the Civil Human Rights Front and reporters at the Apple Daily and Stand News, Hong Kong Outlanders secretary-general Sky Fung （馮詔天） said.
Government informal measures refers to administrative and extrajudicial means, including making funding contingent on political vetting, and surveillance and harassment of civil organizations, the report says.
The last tier refers to pressure within non-governmental organizations or businesses to self-censor, as well as pro-government entities intimidating stakeholders “to achieve a chilling effect.”
An example of this strategy is when a venue rescinded permission for singer and prominent democracy advocate Anthony Wong （黃耀明） to perform, Fung said.
These censorship mechanisms have most heavily affected five areas: press freedom; the arts, culture and publishing; political expression; information transparency; and the flow of financial resources, the report says.
“Media outlets were the first to be suppressed by [the law],” the report says, citing the arrests in 2020 and 2021 of people affiliated with the Apple Daily and Stand News, the territory’s two largest independent news outlets at the time.
Police have narrowed their definition of media to restrict the work of independent journalists, and the government has further restricted access to information.
“Under such heavy censorship, alternative media critical of the government has largely disappeared within a short period of time,” it says.
In arts, culture and publishing, informal measures are preferred and outright arrests are relatively rare, it says.
By accusing entities of contravening the national security legislation, it allows the government to follow up with administrative interventions and encourages self-censorship, it says.
Legal measures have mainly restricted political expression and transparency of information, with all demonstrations severely restricted and “politically sensitive” Web sites blocked likely at the behest of the government, it says.
The flow of financial resources is restricted through all three means, “resulting in the financial struggle of members of civil society,” the report says.
Private entities such as crowdfunding sites have also played a role, banning certain accounts without justification, it says.
The report concludes that under current widespread censorship, “freedom of the press, freedom of expression and flow of information in Hong Kong as a whole are all restricted, and the space for public discussion （both online and offline） is increasingly limited.”
People have also become more cautious in interacting with non-governmental organizations and activists from abroad out of fear of being accused of “collusion with foreign forces,” it says.
This might make it seem like civil society in Hong Kong has died out, but activists still require support as they “cautiously attempt to develop more innovative and flexible methods to continue their work,” it says.
The report encourages international stakeholders to explore flexible methods of interacting with Hong Kong civil society, such as setting up online platforms to freely discuss information, collaborating on projects and offering financial support.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
