Commissioner's office of Chinese foreign ministry urges external forces to stop undermining Hong Kong's rule of law on pretext of press freedom

HONG KONG, June 17 (Xinhua) -- The Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Thursday urged external forces to stop undermining Hong Kong's rule of law on the pretext of press freedom.

The statement was made in response to a few Western politicians and foreign media organizations who vilified the Hong Kong police's law enforcement actions against five executives of Apple Daily and related companies.

A spokesperson of the office said the HKSAR government and the police have made it clear that those arrested are suspected of conspiring to endanger national security by colluding with foreign forces via publishing dozens of articles on Apple Daily and circulating them through media platforms, urging foreign countries to impose sanctions on or take other hostile activities against Hong Kong and China.

The national security law in Hong Kong targets a small handful of anti-China troublemakers who pose grave threat to national security and protects the lawful rights and freedoms of the vast majority of Hong Kong residents, press freedom included, the spokesperson said.

The facts are clear and the evidence solid, and the cases have nothing to do with press freedom, the spokesperson said.

A few external forces, however, have exploited the cases and distorted the truth, smearing Hong Kong's press freedom and even spreading rumor about so-called "chilling effects" in an attempt to disrupt the rule of law in Hong Kong on the pretext of press freedom, obstruct the HKSAR government's law-based governance and undermine Hong Kong's prosperity and stability, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson urged the external forces to respect the rule of law in Hong Kong and stop sabotaging Hong Kong's prosperity and stability or interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China's internal affairs as a whole in any form.