U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Publicly Detests Arrest of Media Staff Members by the CCP.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has demanded that Beijing and the Hong Kong government promptly free the media employees who were detained in Hong Kong on December 29 after a police raid on their workplace the same day.

According to a statement, Blinken stated, “We call on PRC [People’s Republic of China] and Hong Kong authorities to cease targeting Hong Kong’s free and independent media, and to immediately release those journalists and media executives who have been unjustly detained and charged,”

Over 200 national security authorities invaded Stand News, a Hong Kong-based independent internet news outlet, on December 29. Under a colonial-era statute, the police froze the outlet’s assets worth HK$61 million (approximately $7.8 million) and detained two current and former editors, as well as four former board members, on charges of “conspiracy to publish seditious publications”.

Stand News declared that it will be ceasing operations just hours after the raid. The company’s website is now inaccessible, and its social media profiles on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have all been erased. All of the videos on the company’s YouTube channel have been taken down as well.

The UK office of Stand News has also closed, according to the bureau’s leader, Yeung Tin-shui, who announced the closure on his Facebook page on Dec. 30. Yeung also stated that he had resigned from his current position.

Stand News is the second Hong Kong news organization to go out of business this year. The headquarters of local newspaper Apple Daily were searched by 500 police officers in June, and the paper’s last edition was produced fewer than ten days later.

“Journalism is not sedition,” Blinken stated. “By silencing independent media, PRC and local authorities undermine Hong Kong’s credibility and viability.”

“A confident government that is unafraid of the truth embraces a free press,” he concluded. Also arrested on Wednesday was a former Apple Daily editor, who is married to the arrested former Stand News editor.

A former Apple Daily editor, who is married to the detained former Stand News editor, was also arrested on Wednesday.

Carrie Lam, a pro-Beijing Hong Kong politician, defended the case against Stand News to reporters on Dec. 30, saying the police’s actions “have nothing to do with so-called suppression of press freedom.”

“Seditious activities could not be condoned under the guise of news reporting.” she continued.

Those calling for the arrestees’ release have also been accused of “trampling on the rule of law,” according to Lam.

In a statement issued late Wednesday, China’s Foreign Ministry’s Commissioner’s Office urged “external forces,” including the European Union, to “stop using any excuse to interfere in Hong Kong’s affairs and China’s internal affairs.”

Many international human rights organizations and US congressmen, as well as authorities from Australia, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Taiwan, have expressed alarm over the arrests.

In a Facebook post, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen claimed that China had “ripped apart” its obligations under the “One Country, Two Systems” framework by restricting Hong Kong’s freedom of speech.

“Democracy and freedom are universal values and basic human rights,” Tsai said, before expressing hope for the release of those detained on Wednesday.

The chair and co-head of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. Jim McGovern, expressed their “deep concerns” on Twitter, saying the arrests were part of a “systematic crackdown” on Hong Kong’s journalistic freedom.

The two legislators voiced special worry for Denise Ho, a well-known Hong Kong singer and activist who testified before the CECC in September 2019 about human rights violations in Hong Kong. Ho, a former member of the Stand News board of directors, was one of the seven people detained on Dec. 29.

The two lawmakers stated, “CECC will closely monitor their cases, incl. their bond applications and due process rights,”

The raid and arrests, according to Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, are a continuation of Hong Kong’s “suppression of free speech & media”

“Australia reiterates our call for media freedom and for the rights & freedoms of the people of Hong Kong to be upheld,” Payne stated.

Presumably this is all the backlash we’ll see in regard to the injustices the CCP imposes on it’s people. The secretary of state speaking up on this kind of issue results in the common public never hearing about it. Which is entirely the purpose, if all of America knew what china has just done they’d have a problem. The static is getting too loud in America, and nobody is getting the news they need to hear. Hosea 4:6 says: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” Please Stay inquisitive in the word of God, and the world around you.

On Dec. 29, more than 200 national security officers invaded the headquarters of a small online media organization and detained seven employees, causing various rights organizations to publish expressions of concern.

After 500 police officers stormed local newspaper Apple Daily’s offices and detained five of its founders in June, Stand News, a non-profit founded in 2014, became the second Hong Kong media company to be searched in 2021. Both publications have a history of promoting pro-Hong Kong protester perspectives.

The raid on Stand News’ office in the city’s Kwun Tong District finished at noon local time, with about 30 boxes of evidence and numerous laptops seized.

Following the raid, Stand News declared on Facebook that it will cease operations immediately, as well as update all of its social media pages. It also said that all of its staff had been fired, and that Patrick Lam, the interim editor-in-chief, had quit.

According to Hong Kong media, Lam was one of the seven persons arrested.

During a news conference following the raid, Steve Li Kwai-wah, senior superintendent of Hong Kong’s Police National Security Department, revealed the seven detainees comprised three males and four women without naming them. They were detained for “conspiracy to publish seditious materials,” according to the city’s colonial-era Crimes Ordinance, he added.

Between July 2020 and November 2020, he said, the publication released a slew of “seditious” pieces. On July 1, 2020, Beijing’s harsh national security law went into force.

According to him, the purpose of these writings was to “cause hatred” or “contempt” toward the Hong Kong government and courts. He also charged the news organization with enabling international individuals to use its platform to “incite hatred” against the Hong Kong authorities and the Chinese regime.

Stand News’ assets, worth HK$61 million (approximately US$7.8 million), have been blocked, according to the police superintendent.

According to Denise Ho’s Facebook page, she was among those detained. Denise Ho is a well-known Hong Kong pop singer and activist. She was a member of the Stand News board of directors previously.

Ho was a key figure in the 2014 Umbrella Movement and the 2019 and 2020 anti-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) pro-democracy protests.

The Human Rights Foundation (HRF), located in New York, expressed worry about Ho’s detention, calling it “outrageous” and adding that it was yet another proof that the Hong Kong administration is “a puppet” of the CCP.

In a statement, HRF Chief Executive Officer Thor Halvorssen stated the CCP and Hong Kong government “have complete disregard for press freedom and are shameless in brazenly attempting to remove all of Hong Kong’s freedom advocates from public sight through high-profile arrests,”

According to Hong Kong media, three more former board members of Stand News have been arrested: Margaret Ng, Chow Tat-chi, and Christine Fong. Ng was also a previous pro-democracy Hong Kong politician.

Chung Pui-kuen, the former editor-in-chief of Stand News, and Chan Pui-man, Chung’s wife, were the other two persons detained.

After the Hong Kong authorities originally reported that six people had been detained in an operation against Stand News on the morning of December 29, several human rights organizations criticized the raid.

The raid and arrests, according to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong (FCCHK), “are a further blow to press freedom in Hong Kong and will continue to chill the media environment in the city following a difficult year for the city’s news outlets.”

The FCCHK concluded that 61 percent of those questioned were slightly concerned and 10% were extremely concerned about the “possibility of arrest or persecution from reporting or writing opinion articles.” in a study published in November.

The journalistic climate in Hong Kong “has become worse than the mainland because nobody knows what the red lines are.” according to one anonymous poll respondent.

According to a statement from Steven Butler, Asian program coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York, the arrests are “an open assault on Hong Kong’s already tattered press freedom,”

According to a statement, Brian Leung, executive director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council in Washington, voiced worry over whether those imprisoned would get a fair trial.

“By branding the exercise of press freedom as sedition, Beijing is making clear that the regime doesn’t tolerate truth-telling in Hong Kong,” Leung said.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who pays attention to global politics that this is happening. However, one could speculate and say that tensions across the board are running higher than ever for the Chinese Communist Party. Something has got to give, America is no longer able to turn a blind eye from persecution due to the rapid spread of information in this digital age. The question remains, who will stop the CCP from committing further violations against human rights, and how much longer until that takes place?

1 Peter 4:12-14 says: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Stay inquisitive in the word of God, and the world around you.”