Radio Free Asia closes Hong Kong bureau, citing security law concerns

Source: NBC News

HONG KONG -- Radio Free Asia is closing its bureau in Hong Kong, the U.S.-funded media outlet said Friday, citing concerns about staff safety in the Chinese territory after the passage of a new local national security law known as Article 23.

"Actions by Hong Kong authorities, including referring to RFA as a 'foreign force,' raise serious questions about our ability to operate in safety with the enactment of Article 23," Bay Fang, president and chief executive of Radio Free Asia, said in a statement.

Fang said that while Radio Free Asia will retain its official media registration, the outlet has closed its physical bureau in Hong Kong and no longer has full-time employees in the city, where it had operated since 1996. It was unclear how many employees were affected or whether they would be relocated elsewhere.

The Hong Kong government declined to comment on RFA's announcement but said it condemned "all scaremongering and smearing remarks" against the Article 23 law.

"To single out Hong Kong and suggest that journalists would only experience concerns when operating here but not in other countries would be grossly biased, if not outrageous," a spokesperson said.

The Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, also referred to as the Article 23 law, was enacted on March 23 after being approved unanimously by Hong Kong's opposition-free legislature. The law, which addresses crimes including treason, sedition, state secrets and external interference and makes them punishable by up to life in prison, is meant to supplement a broader national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.

The Hong Kong and Chinese governments say both laws were necessary to restore stability after 2019 pro-democracy protests that sometimes turned violent. But critics say they are contributing to the erosion of civil liberties in Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

The State Department had told NBC News earlier this month that it was aware of reports that RFA might withdraw from the city and that "such a decision would represent the latest consequence of Hong Kong authorities' continuing suppression of media freedom."