Tag: Apple Daily

Radio Free Asia Leaves Hong Kong, Citing Security Law

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The United States-funded news service Radio Free Asia said on Friday that it has closed its office in Hong Kong because of concerns about the city’s recently enacted national security law that targets so-called foreign interference. Hong Kong’s new national security law, which was passed with unusual speed earlier this month, raised “serious questions about our ability to operate in safety,” the broadcaster’s president and chief executive, Bay Fang, said in a statement. Radio Free Asia said that it had relocated some employees from Hong Kong to Taiwan, the United…

Where Are Hong Kong’s Leading Pro-Democracy Figures Now?

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In 2019, Hong Kong erupted into the most stunning expression of public anger with Beijing in decades. Protesters broke into the legislature and vandalized it. They bought full-page advertisements in international newspapers, criticizing the government. Lawmakers hurled unsavory objects in meetings to protest unpopular bills. In the years since then, China has waged an expansive crackdown on Hong Kong to crush the opposition. Beijing directly imposed a national security law on the city in 2020 that gave the authorities a powerful tool to round up critics, including a prominent pro-democracy…

Hong Kong Democracy Figure Jimmy Lai Stands Trial After Long Delay

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Unlike other Hong Kong tycoons who were careful not to provoke China’s leaders, Jimmy Lai had long been a proud rebel. He founded a newspaper with a decidedly anti-Beijing slant. He was a prominent face at massive pro-democracy protests. He lobbied American officials to protest the city’s declining autonomy. Then, in 2020, Mr. Lai was arrested, becoming one of the first prominent targets of a national security law imposed by Beijing to crush the opposition. On Monday, after three years in prison and unusually lengthy procedural delays, Mr. Lai was…