Several Republican politicians condemned Hong Kong police for detaining seven current and past workers of one of the city’s few pro-democracy journals and searching their offices.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was chastised by high-profile Republican officials for the arrests and raid, which were carried out on Wednesday under the communist party’s 2020 National Security Law.
Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a Republican, told Fox News Digital in an email on Wednesday that Hong Kong police’s actions demonstrated the communist party’s fear of the free press.
Stand News began as a nonprofit company in 2014, and its first assignment was to cover the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019.
According to police, the seven people arrested on Wednesday were suspected of planning to disseminate “seditious materials” and incite hate against the government. A total of HK$61 million in assets was also frozen by the authorities.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, condemned the Hong Kong government’s restriction of free speech, writing in an email on Wednesday that “Communist China will imprison, harass, and intimidate anybody who dares to tell the truth.”
The detention and raid, according to former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, are another reason to hold China responsible.
Hong Kong officials have been cracking down on organizations that they believe pose a danger to the government since the law’s introduction.
Authorities used the law to arrest five editors from Apple Daily, a publication that has long advocated Hong Kong democracy, charging the publication of being a “critical part” of a “conspiracy” with other nations to inflict sanctions on China and Hong Kong. Jimmy Lai, the creator of Apple Daily, is presently serving a 20-month prison sentence for his participation in the 2019 demonstrations.
