Hong Kong’s version of the national security red line ambiguous commentators have left Hong Kong or hush

Hong Kong’s national security law is about to be passed a year ago, and many people initially interpreted it as requiring actual action to be considered illegal, but in fact writing commentaries in newspapers can lead to arrest. Hong Kong’s commentary community was in a state of flux, as the risks of commentary work became increasingly high and many commentators chose to leave Hong Kong or keep quiet.

On the fourth day after the arrest of Apple Daily’s chief writer Li Ping, Feng Weiguang (pen name Lu Feng), who has written editorials for Apple Daily for many years and is the executive editor-in-chief of the English-language Apple Daily, was also arrested by Hong Kong police at the Hong Kong International Airport on Sunday night (27) as he prepared to leave the city.

Since the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law last year, many commentators who mainly comment on current affairs in Hong Kong have chosen to leave Hong Kong, close their microphones and close their pens. For example, Internet commentators Xiao Ruoyuan, Liu Hsiu-liang and international scholar Shen Xuhui left Hong Kong before and after the National Security Law came into effect to continue their online commentary programs in Taiwan and Canada, and political commentary program host Li Hui-ling, who is still in Hong Kong, ended her online radio show in April Last week, Cai Ziqiang, a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science and Administration at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, also announced the end of his 26-year column in Ming Pao.

Hong Kong’s National Security Law has made literal imprisonment and criminalization of speech a visible fact

Lui Ping-kuen, convenor of the Independent Commentators Association, said that after the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law, doing commentary work in Hong Kong is increasingly high-risk, that the government does not accept the views of commentators, and Beijing is not consistent, in many unseen red line, commentators can not comment freely, is the main reason they choose to leave Hong Kong or silence.

Lv Bingquan: “In the past, the Communist Party could not be scolded, patriotism does not necessarily love the party, in the party and state as one very clear requirements, this set is out of date, this is also the national security law among the mines not clearly written, the visible and invisible risks are increasingly, there is also the official implementation of the national security law is not constrained, with words to incriminate has been the fact that Hong Kong can see.

Lui Pingquan said that although the pressure of the word prison, but no members asked to withdraw from the Independent Reviewers Association, I believe that the belief of members to do rational commentary, not affected by the police action.

He said that the society only praise the voice, will not bring a better future for Hong Kong, and said that the mainland than Hong Kong higher risk, but the media has been playing rubbish for many years, I believe that Hong Kong commentators inevitably have to take the route of rubbish.

The red line of the national security law is more ambiguous than previously thought

Veteran current affairs commentator Yeung Kin-hing said the arrest of commentators is worrying. He said he thought that under the Hong Kong National Security Law, there are actual actions to constitute a danger to national security, but a year later, the red line of the National Security Law is found to be more ambiguous than before.

He said, has been doing commentary for more than a decade, will continue to work according to their professional judgment.

Yang Jianxing: “The objective environment is getting worse and worse, the risk is also greater than in the past, as a commentary, I can not say that I should not touch those topics, the treatment will be particularly careful, I myself will use the normal mind, if you want to continue to write, can not completely change their views, so that there is no point in writing, will use their own professional news in the past to write articles, really out of the question are not Live can say, but also what they believe in.”

In recent years to develop YOUTUBE frequency of Yang Jianxing admitted that the current political environment, still remain in Hong Kong commentators of people, less and less, their own risk will be relatively increased, it is difficult to ensure that one day to consider stop working, now we can only walk and see, try their best.