US, 20 other nations condemn China in new statement

On Tuesday, the United States joined with 20 other nations to condemn Chinese authorities for the “near-complete disappearance of local independent media outlets in Hong Kong.”

In a joint statement, the U.S. State Department said that since enacting its new national security laws over Hong Kong in June 2020, Chinese authorities have gone on to target and suppress independent media in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The U.S. joined with the other countries of the Media Freedom Coalition — Australia, Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom — to condemn China’s national security laws.

News outlets in Hong Kong have been under increased pressure from Hong Kong authorities after China implemented so-called “national security laws” that criminalized broadly defined acts of “sedition,” “subversion,” “secession” and “terrorism.”

The joint statement by the 21 Media Freedom Coalition countries pointed to police raids on Hong Kong’s Stand News offices and the arrests of Stand News staff in December.