While Fung Wai-kong, former Apple Daily editorial writer, was arrested late Sunday night on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces in endangering national security, Stand News, another online news in Hong Kong, announced it will remove all the op-eds and commentary articles it published before May.
Hong Kong media reported that Fung, 57, who is also the former chief executive of Apple Daily’s English edition, was arrested at the Hong Kong airport. He was a senior editorial writer of the secessionist tabloid, which was shut down on Thursday due to lack of funds for normal operations. Fung also visited Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, founder of the paper, in jail in March, according to the reports.
The Hong Kong police confirmed with the Global Times that the 57-year-old man was arrested at the airport and detained for further investigation on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security.
Six directors of the board of the parent company of the Stand News, including former LegCo member Margaret Ng and radical anti-government figure Denise Ho, resigned from their positions.
One day ahead of Apple Daily’s closure, a columnist from the tabloid with the penname “Li Ping” was also arrested on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces and endangering national security.
While some foreign politicians and governments have criticized the arrests and closure of Apple Daily and questioned whether there is freedom of press, Chinese Foreign Ministry, the liaison office of the central government and the office for safeguarding national security of the central government in the HKSAR, have all said no one has extrajudicial privileges and no organization is beyond the reach of the law. No rights or freedom, including that of press, can cross the line of national security.
Stanley Ng Chau-pei, president of the Federation of Trade Unions in Hong Kong, criticized the infamous role that some Hong Kong media outlets had played in instigating or assisting the rioting activities against the Chinese central government and the Communist Party of China. For example, Stand News criticized the freezing of Apple Daily funds and claimed that the police hurt the interests of its staff members, in an attempt to hide the fact that the senior executives of Apple Daily should be blamed for endangering the national security, Ng said in a recent social media post.
Apple Daily file photo: VCG
