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Hong Kong says public libraries must comply with security law

2021-06-24 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-亚洲原网页

HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) - Hong Kong has said all public libraries must comply with its national security law after a pro-China lawmaker highlighted that a local branch had prominently displayed books written by media tycoon and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai.

On Thursday evening (June 24), Hong Kong's government said it was investigating reports of a local public library displaying books written by a person awaiting trial for suspected breaches of the national security law.

Earlier on Thursday, pro-China lawmaker Cheung Kwok Kwan posted a photo on Facebook of a book display featuring several books related to Lai. Mr Cheung, a member of Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam's advisory Executive Council, said citizens complained that the library recommended books related to Lai, who is suspected of violating the national security law.

Lai, a fierce critic of Beijing who has been imprisoned by the government for attending unauthorised protests in 2019, is the owner of the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper that shuttered this week. That came after the authorities froze HK$18 million (S$3.1 million) of assets belonging to the paper and Next Digital, as part of national security investigations linked to collusion with foreign forces and for calling for sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials.

Lai has also been charged under the city's security law and is awaiting trial.

Last week, his Apple Daily newsroom was raided by 500 police officers, who arrested the top three editors and two executives of the parent company Next Digital under the security law. Hong Kong security officials denied the company access to its bank accounts, the company said, and it was forced to closed down - printing its last newspaper on Thursday.

In a statement, the government said library collections must comply with the security law, a development similar to the government's recent national security additions to the city's film censorship guidelines.

"With the promulgation of the National Security Law, Hong Kong Public Libraries must ensure that its collections are in compliance with the relevant law," a spokesman for the Leisure and Cultural Services Department said in a statement.

"If any staff member is found to be involved in the issue, the LCSD will consult the relevant departments and handle the matter in a serious manner, in accordance with the established mechanism, and take appropriate actions."