Prominent Hong Kong Publisher Arrested Under New National

Security Law

Link: https://www.npr.org/2020/08/10/900758905/prominent-hong-kong-publisher-arrested-
under-new-national-security-law

Transcript:

The scene in Hong Kong today would be hard to reconcile with its very recent past. The Chinese
possession has had freedom of the press since British colonial times. But today police flooded the
newsroom of a prominent paper and arrested the publisher. Jimmy Lai is one of the few Hong Kong
corporate leaders to support a pro-democracy movement. He's a past guest on this program who
told us he was hoping for a miracle in the confrontation with Beijing. NPR's Emily Feng has been
reporting on the new national security law used to arrest him. Hi there, Emily.

Hey, Steve.

What is Jimmy Lai's place in Hong Kong?

He is one of the most visible critics of Beijing and of a national security law that was just passed in
Hong Kong. He's this entrepreneur and political firebrand who commands respect across
generations in Hong Kong because he's part of this older generation that helped build Hong Kong
into a global economic hub. But today, he, his two sons and four executives who work for him were
arrested for collusion with foreign forces. We don't know yet what exactly they did to be arrested,
but his arrest is a stark warning to Hong Kong's press corps. Hong Kong's press corps, though, is not
the only political target these days in Hong Kong. Let's listen to some other sectors of civil society
that have come under pressure from this national security law. As of last month, Hong Kong activist
Samuel Chu is a wanted fugitive by the Hong Kong government. I called him earlier this week.

I'm just having a regular Sunday (laughter) on my couch doing interviews on why I'm, all of a sudden,
on a list.

Chu is a Hong Kong-born American citizen and is based in Washington, where he lobbies American
politicians to make it easier for Hong Kongers to move to the U.S. and costlier for China to limit Hong
Kong's promised autonomy. But under a new national security law Beijing imposed just over a
month ago in Hong Kong, Chu and five others who live abroad are wanted for secession and
colluding with foreign powers because the law applies to anyone who commits offenses anywhere
against Hong Kong. Chu is undeterred.

We are advocating and working with influencing our own government's policy towards Hong Kong
and China, and so we have nothing to be afraid of. In fact, this is sort of the most basic constitutional
rights I have as an American.

But that's not what Beijing thinks. Beijing has long accused forces from the U.S. and other Western
powers of meddling in Hong Kong, and now it has a national security law to potentially prosecute
such cases - other targets under the law - four people, including a high school student, arrested last
month for secession and 12 opposition candidates the government banned from running in
legislative elections Hong Kong has now delayed by up to a year. Gwyneth Ho, a former journalist
and now pro-democracy activist, was one of the candidates banned. The reason - obstructing
government proceedings and thus opposing the new law...
All the normal democratic proceedings that - in the chamber, such as vetoing whatever laws or
trying to voice dissent. We are now afraid that it may be considered as violating the national security
law.

Education, that all-important tool for shaping young minds, is also under pressure. Textbooks must
now be reviewed by the Education Bureau for content in violation of national security. An activist
and tenured professor was fired last month from his university. The Hong Kong Professional
Teachers' Union says in the last year, nearly 200 teachers have had cases opened up against them.
That's after anonymous individuals reported comments in favor of anti-government protests the
teachers made on their private social media accounts. Ip Kin-yuen is a pro-democracy lawmaker
helping these teachers with legal assistance. He says Hong Kong's Beijing-backed authorities want to
neutralize Hong Kong's freethinking schools.

They want to have more control of the people's idea about the world, how they see the world and
especially the younger generation.

The city's formidably freewheeling press corps has also come under more constraints because Hong
Kong police can now conduct search and seizures without a warrant in the name of national security.
Sharron Fast, a media law professor at the University of Hong Kong, explains.

Under, quote-unquote, "exceptional circumstances," no judicial scrutiny will be applied. The police
may simply seize and examine and inspect all of the information on your mobile phone or any
electronic device.

The police's new national security powers also allow them to request Internet service providers to
censor content from the Internet. Some technology companies have already decided to leave Hong
Kong altogether. Justin Watts is engineering head at TunnelBear, which provides VPN services that
shield a user's Internet traffic from prying eyes, in part by funneling that traffic through servers
across the world. He decided to remove those VPN servers from Hong Kong after the national
security law.

And if we look historically at encryption mechanisms that remain secure today - may not be so
tomorrow.

We've been listening to NPR's Emily Feng. And that reference to VPN, Emily, makes me think about
the way that people have to live in authoritarian societies. If they want to be somewhat free, they
have to go underground on the Internet in that way. Hong Kong didn't have to be that way. What are
the implications of this arrest?

It shows just how fragile freedom of the press and freedom of expression are, how quickly they can
be dismantled because right now, Hong Kongers now face the same difficult decisions that their
compatriots in mainland China face, which is when you can self-censor, when you can speak out now
that the political costs are so high in doing so. The way that the national security law is being applied
also means that Hong Kong will continue to be a political flashpoint between the U.S. and China. So
the U.S. has sanctioned Chinese officials over Hong Kong. Today China sanctioned 11 Americans over
the sanctions in Hong Kong. So we will continue to see Hong Kong in the news and, unfortunately,
more instances of the law being applied to arrest people in Hong Kong.

And again, the latest news here - Jimmy Lai, prominent publisher, pro-democracy publisher in Hong
Kong has been arrested today, and the newspaper that he ran was raided. NPR's Emily Feng is in
Beijing. Emily, thanks.
Thanks, Steve.

Design:

Since (1) _______________________________ the Chinese possession has had freedom of the
press.

Today the (2) __________________ of a prominent paper was flooded by the police and the
publisher was arrested.

Jimmie Lai is an entrepreneur and (3) ______________________ who commands respect across
generations in Hong Kong.

As of last month, Hong Kong activist Samuel Chu is a (4) __________________________ by the Hong
Kong government.

A high school student was arrested last month for (5) ____________________________.

A (6) ________________________ and an activist was fired last month from his university.

The city's (7) ______________________________ press corps has also come under more constraints
because Hong Kong police can now conduct search and seizures without a warrant in the name of
national security.

TunnelBear provides VPN services that shield a user's Internet traffic from (8)
_____________________, in part by funneling that traffic through servers across the world.

And if we look historically at (9) ___________________________ that remain secure today - may not
be so tomorrow.