1. Most of you may not understand how dreadful the closure of Apple Daily means to Hong Kong. Not only to its journalistic landscape, but also to the people and the city itself. This is their last day. They are going to print 1 million copies tomorrow to commerate the fight.
2. The parent company of Apple Daily, Next Digital Limited, is a listed company. The govt forced a listed company to close itself in a matter of days, though signs have been there for months.
3. By arresting executives, journalists and freezing the asserts, the companies cannot pay their staffers, and staffers are afraid of being arrested. The paper with a history of 26 years is gone. The companies and the arresstees are not even trialed yet.
4. Apple Daily is a popular newspaper. It ranked 3rd most credible newspaper in the latest poll by a university research institute. People supporting democracy support them as well. Apple daily is murdered by an authoritarian regime, with the latest weaponized legal state.
5. More than 1000 workers lost their jobs. A charity operated by Apple Daily that subsidizes underprivileged patients to pay for expensive patent drugs is also closed immediately. They lost all fundings. People lost more than a news channel that dares to speak differently.
6. Supporters vowed their support to the paper outside its building on its last day. It's a heartbreaking scene, and the govt singlehanded created this tragedy. CCP does not tolerate truth and independent journalism. They crush our civil society, our proud tradition.
7. We are saddened, but we won't give up. I will continue the work in the diasporic community, with supporting more on reporting on the ground and preserving its culture. Hope all of you are also supporting the struggles of Hong Kong people as well. #StandWithHongKong
-END
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Good move.
PRC-related company ByteDance has overwhelming control over TikTok, and the concern is beyond users’ private data. TikTok can be integrated into China’s information warfare easily so that the PRC can indirectly control what people see. bbc.co.uk/news/live/worl…
Some more facts to be shared: 1. Details of the relationship between TikTok and ByteDance remain unclear to outsiders. Staff sometimes don’t know who to report to, and who to get directions from. It shows that ByteDance has the ability to affect TikTok’s decision-making.
2. China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law states that “any organization” must assist or cooperate with state intelligence work; 2014 Counter-Espionage Law says “relevant organizations ... may not refuse” to collect evidence for an investigation.
ByteDance is not an exception.
1. For the past years, the National Security Bureau has been accusing me of violating the National Security Law. Today, the specifics of the were revealed: Incitement to secession, collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security.
One million HKD bounty is warranted.
2. I have previously been "wanted" for other cases, and obtained refugee status in the UK two years ago. These charges are classic examples of abusing the concept of "national security", pushing its definition to an extreme to suppress dissident voices.
3. In civilized countries, the right to peaceful political advocacy should be protected. That’s what all the “wanted” individuals do. I urge National Security Bureau to disclose any evidence of my alleged collusion with foreign forces.
1/ Quick updates of #Chinaprotest:
- Police are stationed in many main protest sites
- Protestors started to be arrested by police
- Some of the early patches of protestors are released
- Citizens continue to pop up at street corners with blank papers
2/ Things that are worthwhile looking at:
- Attitude of the central govt. News showed that some of the city’s COVID control have been relaxed, but that’s not the whole country. I believe Beijing has not yet decided how to react.
3/ - Demands of people. Slogans range from “end COVID lockdown” to “Down with CCP/ Xi.” It would be interesting to see whether there’s a consolidation of what people want
- Overseas protests. Tens of overseas protests were organised in the past weekend ....
1. This is a short thread about the infiltration of totalitarian CCP propaganda machines, their assaults on democratic traditions and an appeal to actions in UK.
The Chinese Communist Party tries to get a free pass on their appalling human rights atrocities. We must stop them.
2. Yesterday, a group of pro-Beijing organizations hosted an "anti-Asian hate" rally in Chinatown. Of course, it's indispensable to address the problems of racial-based hate crime. But the speakers kept equating criticism on China to stirring hate to Chinese people.
3. That's literally not true. In fact, CCP is the most racist country -- they lock millions of ethnic minorities in modern-day concentration camps just because of their religion. We criticize CCP for their suppression to minorities, so to the others.