US Secretary of State’s statement after the arrest of journalists in China, doing journalism is not treason
In the case of raiding the office of Stand News in China and arresting seven of its senior employees, America has told China that journalism is not treason. He has urged the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities to release the arrested employees of the media organisation. In this case, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Wednesday, the Hong Kong government raided the office of Stand News on December 29 and arrested seven of its senior employees. Stand News is one of the few remaining media organizations in the country that do their work independently. Due to this action of the government, the institute is forced to close its operations. Journalism is not treason.
Stop targeting independent media organizations: Blinken
The foreign minister urged the Chinese and Hong Kong administrations to stop targeting independent media organizations here. By silencing the independent media, the PRC and local authorities are undermining Hong Kong’s credibility and viability, he said. A confident government is one that is not afraid of the truth and that government embraces a free press. According to Sputnik, more than 100 police officers arrived at the office of the pro-democracy Stand News on Wednesday and took the journalists into their custody, apart from the current editor and some other members. After this arrest, Stand News wrote on its Facebook page, Stand News has stopped working. The website and other social media have stopped updating and will be deleted soon.
sacked all employees
Stand News said acting editor-in-chief Lin Shaotong has tendered his resignation. In addition, all employees have been fired. Earlier in June of the year, another anti-government newspaper Apple Daily also stopped its operations after similar raids and arrests in its office. Indeed, such activity in Hong Kong is directed by China, which insists on complying with national security law. According to this law, a person going against it will be charged with four types of offenses of separatism, sabotage, terrorism and collusion with foreign countries.
