Two reporters with The Epoch Times’ Hong Kong edition said they were being followed by suspected security agents after spotting an unusual person and a police car around them in recent days.
The local Epoch Times is one of only a handful of independent media outlets in Hong Kong, with most media holding pro-Beijing stances or being partially funded by Beijing.
It happened around 2 p.m. as Liang was going to dine with a friend. The man, being one of a few people on the street at the time, was speaking in Cantonese over the phone while glancing toward Liang’s direction. Liang said she became alarmed after she noticed the man following her at arm’s length as she walked, and continued tailing her after she turned to the right.
Liang entered a nearby mall in an attempt to throw him off and pretended to be shopping. Looking from inside, she saw that he walked a few steps forward and thought he had left. When Liang walked out moments later, she found that the man was at the door, apparently waiting for her. After Liang made eye contact with him, the man immediately turned around and hurriedly walked away.
Liang captured a photo of his back as he left.
Another reporter who lives on Hong Kong Island also spotted a police car parked near their residence on the same day.
Beijing tightened its grip on the territory after it directly imposed the law, which criminalizes secession, subversion, terrorist activities, and foreign collusion with up to life imprisonment.
“It’s shocking, but I can only continue to do what I believe in,” Chow wrote on Aug. 9. Joshua Wong, another key activist in the protest movement in Hong Kong, also wrote recently about suspicious cars and motor vehicles following him.
While Liang said she was more alert than usual due to the current political climate, she was still shocked that someone would follow her. By calling out what she suspects to be “scare tactics,” she hopes to discourage individuals from feeding into the disquieting atmosphere in Hong Kong, she said. “Creating such ‘white terror’ will not do any good to themselves either,” she said in an interview.
The law is vague in describing what constitutes each offense. The Hong Kong government detailed implementation rules a week later, saying the law allows police to search any premises or electronic devices for evidence, and to wiretap individuals without a court order.
CPJ quoted from a survey they recently conducted with local journalists. “It’s ridiculous if you try to second-guess where the red line is. If we did that, literally we could do nothing. They can interpret the law in any way they like, in any way that suits their purpose,” an editor of a Chinese news website told CPJ under the condition of anonymity.
The Epoch Times’ Hong Kong edition condemned the harassment of press members in an Aug. 11 statement, saying Liang’s incident represented a “seriously trampling on media freedom.” It also called for more international attention on Hong Kong’s press freedom and the personal safety of journalists.
