Silencing Independent Media, US Secretary Of State Antony Blinken: PRC And Local Authorities Damage Hong Kong's Credibility

Hong Kong police illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Doctor Ho)

JAKARTA - United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday called on Chinese and Hong Kong authorities to immediately release staff members of the pro-democracy media outlet Stand News who were arrested following a police raid that shut down the publication.

"We call on the PRC and Hong Kong authorities to stop targeting Hong Kong's free and independent media and immediately release journalists and media executives who have been unfairly detained and charged," Foreign Minister Blinken said in a statement, referring to the People's Republic of China, citing Reuters December 30.

"By silencing independent media, the PRC and local authorities undermine Hong Kong's credibility and viability," he criticized.

As previously reported, hundreds of Hong Kong's national security police raided the offices of online pro-democracy media outlet Stand News on Wednesday, arresting six people, including senior staff, for allegedly committing 'publicity sedition' offenses.

The attack on Stand News raised more concerns about press freedom in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 on promises that its freedoms, including press freedom, would be protected.

Police said in a statement it had a warrant permitting him "to search for and confiscate relevant journalistic material".

"More than 200 uniformed and plainclothes police officers have been deployed," the statement said.

Separately, police said they had arrested three men and three women, aged 34 to 73, without naming them, for "conspiring to publish a seditious publication".

To note, Stand News, founded in 2014 as a non-profit organization, is the most prominent pro-democracy publication left in Hong Kong after a national security investigation this year led to the closure of jailed tycoon Jimmy Lai's Apple Daily tabloid.