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       U.S.-Funded Broadcaster Leaves Hong Kong, Citing Security Law

       Radio Free Asia, which ran a small operation in Hong Kong, said its staff was at risk because of the law’s sweeping definition of “external interference.”

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       Journalists gathering at a court in Hong Kong to cover the trial of Jimmy Lai, the founder of Apple Daily, a pro-democracy newspaper.Credit...Peter Parks/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

       By David Pierson

       Reporting from Hong Kong

       March 29, 2024

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       The United States-funded news service Radio Free Asia said on Friday that it has closed its office in Hong Kong because of concerns about the city’s recently enacted national security law that targets so-called foreign interference.

       Hong Kong’s new national security law, which was passed with unusual speed earlier this month, raised “serious questions about our ability to operate in safety,” the broadcaster’s president and chief executive, Bay Fang, said in a statement. Radio Free Asia said that it had relocated some employees from Hong Kong to Taiwan, the United States or elsewhere and laid others off.

       The authorities in China have long accused Radio Free Asia, also known as R.F.A., of being a front for the U.S. government. In its statement, the news organization noted that officials in Hong Kong had also recently referred to R.F.A. as a “foreign force” in the context of how it covered the discussion over the new security law.

       Hong Kong enacted the security law on March 23, giving the city’s authorities more power to investigate such offenses as “external interference” and the theft of state secrets. The city’s officials, including its security chief, Chris Tang, have insisted that freedoms would be protected and the law would target only national security threats. The government declined a request to comment on Radio Free Asia’s departure, pointing instead to national security laws in other countries to justify legislation in Hong Kong.

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       “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 government spokesman said in an emailed statement.

       Relations Between China and the U.S. Mounting Space Threats: The United States and China are locked in a new race over a fundamental resource: time. A Warning For China: The Biden administration is increasingly concerned that the amount of heavily subsidized green technology exports from China is distorting global markets. Sanctions Against China: The U.S. and Britain imposed sanctions on China’s elite hacking units, accusing Beijing’s top spy agency of cyberespionage campaigns in both countries. TikTok: The House passed a bill with broad bipartisan support that would force TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell its hugely popular video app or be banned in the United States. The move escalates a showdown between Beijing and Washington over the control of technologies that could affect national security, free speech and the social media industry.

       But advocates of press freedom say the laws significantly raise the risks for journalists operating in the city. Its vague definition of external interference can be broadly applied to regular journalistic work, the activists say.

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       David Pierson covers Chinese foreign policy and China’s economic and cultural engagement with the world. He has been a journalist for more than two decades. More about David Pierson

       A version of this article appears in print on March 30, 2024, Section B, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S.-Funded Broadcaster Leaves Hong Kong, Citing Security Law. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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