The U.S. State Department on Thursday strongly condemned the pro-Beijing Hong Kong government for using the draconian national security law as a political tool to target pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily.
On June 17, some 500 Hong Kong police officers raided Apple Daily’s headquarters and arrested five directors of the newspaper including its editor-in-chief. The police accused them of “collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security” because the paper had published more than 30 articles since 2019 calling for foreign countries to impose sanctions on China and Hong Kong. The paper is one of the only remaining outlets still publishing voices critical of Beijing and the ruling Chinese Communist Party and views supportive of Hong Kong protesters.
