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CHINA’S foreign ministry urged the US to respect the rule of law today in response to President Joe Biden’s comments on the closure of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily newspaper.
Mr Biden claimed that the recent move was an indication of intensified repression by Beijing, branding it a “sad day for media freedom.”
Mr Biden’s comments raised eyebrows as they came just days after Washington shut down and barred dozens of Iranian news organisations, claiming that they were spreading disinformation.
Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijan described Mr Biden’s comments as factually baseless.
“Officials in Hong Kong and China have repeatedly said that media freedoms are respected but not absolute, and cannot endanger national security,” he said.
Apple Daily editor Jimmy Lai, a billionaire media tycoon known as “the Rupert Murdoch of Asia,” was jailed in December for participating in unauthorised rallies and inciting foreign intervention during Hong Kong’s 2019 anti-China riots.
China today promoted Hong Kong’s top security official John Lee to become chief secretary, a post second only to Chief Executive Carrie Lam, in a sign of continued fears over opposition unrest.
