Blinken, US Secretary of State, Urges China to Immediately Release Hong Kong Stand News Reporter
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken issued a statement regarding the closure of Hong Kong's Stand News, demanding that China stop its media suppression.
According to Bloomberg News on the 29th (local time), in a statement released by the U.S. State Department that day, Secretary Blinken said, "Press coverage is not incitement," and urged, "China must cease actions that undermine the freedom and independence of Hong Kong's media and immediately release the journalists who have been arrested." He added, "Stand News personnel were unjustly detained."
The U.S. State Department's statement came just hours after Stand News, an online media outlet representing Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp, decided to cease operations.
On the same day, Stand News announced that the newspaper had been subjected to a search and seizure by judicial authorities and that journalists had been arrested, leading to the immediate suspension of its operations.
That day, Hong Kong judicial authorities deployed 200 police officers to conduct a raid on the Stand News editorial office and froze assets worth HKD 61 million belonging to Stand News. Numerous Stand News journalists were also arrested.
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In Hong Kong, following the closure of the prominent anti-China daily Apple Daily last June on charges of violating the Hong Kong National Security Law (Hong Kong Security Law), Stand News was also shut down under government pressure six months later. Founded in 2014 during the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement, Stand News had gained attention as an online media outlet representing the pro-democracy camp.
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