ZCZC
BFF-29
POLITICS-CENSORSHIP-CHINA-HONGKONG
China stays mum as Hong Kong protests against extradition bill
BEIJING, June 16, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Chinese state media remained largely
silent Sunday as hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong people took to the
streets to protest against a controversial extradition bill, with social
platforms scrubbed clean of any pictures or mentions of the rally.
Hong Kong’s government has been rocked in recent days by massive
demonstrations — and some violence — which forced the city’s embattled
leader to indefinitely suspend passage of the bill.
Critics fear the Beijing-backed law will entangle people in China’s
notoriously opaque and politicised courts and damage the city’s reputation as
a safe place for business.
Except for a short opinion piece in the Communist Party mouthpiece
People’s Daily, Chinese state media — which has drummed up support for the
bill in recent weeks — remained mum Sunday after the climbdown by Chief
Executive Carrie Lam.
China’s state broadcaster, CCTV, avoided the subject in its main news
bulletins throughout the day.
The proposed law that would allow extraditions to the mainland was
“supported by mainstream public opinion in Hong Kong”, the People’s Daily
article said.
“The general public is looking forward to blocking legal loopholes to
prevent Hong Kong becoming a haven for sinners,” it added.
China has blamed the protests on what it says is a small group of
organisers who are colluding with Western governments.
The People’s Daily echoed the oft-repeated government line that “it
resolutely opposes the intervention of external forces in Hong Kong affairs
and China’s internal affairs”.
It also supported the option chosen by Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing governor
Carrie Lam to put the bill on the backburner, saying it was an opportunity to
“further listen to opinions”.
Searches on China’s Twitter-like microblogging site Weibo for “Hong Kong
protests”, only yields official Chinese foreign ministry statements that have
called such rallies, “riots” or “behaviour that undermines Hong Kong’s peace
and stability”.
There were no photos of black-clad protesters walking with banners critical
of the bill, or people leaving flowers at the site where a young man fell to
his death protesting against the law.
Videos of police using pepper spray and rubber bullets on protesters —
that had left Hong Kong public seething — were also absent from Chinese
social media.
Websites such as Twitter and Facebook — accessible in semi-autonomous Hong
Kong — are blocked on the mainland.
Beijing was already on edge this month as it tightened security and stepped
up online censorship to ensure that the 30th anniversary of the brutal June 4
Tiananmen Square crackdown would go by quietly.
BSS/AFP/RY/1720 hrs