Biden calls closure of Hong Kong's Apple Daily 'sad day for media freedom'

HONG KONG/WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden yesterday called the closure of Hong Kong's Apple Daily tabloid a "sad day for media freedom" and said it signaled "intensifying repression" by China, while vowing to maintain support for the people of the Chinese-ruled territory.

In a statement following the news outlet's closure earlier on Thursday, Biden called on Beijing to stop targeting the independent press and release detained journalists and media executives.

"People in Hong Kong have the right to freedom of the press. Instead, Beijing is denying basic liberties and assaulting Hong Kong’s autonomy and democratic institutions and processes, inconsistent with its international obligations," he said.

Apple Daily was forced to end a 26-year run amid a national security crackdown that froze the company's funds. Its closure prompted snaking lines of hundreds of loyal readers at newsstands across the city.

"It is a sad day for media freedom in Hong Kong and around the world," Biden said, adding that the publication had been "a much-needed bastion of independent journalism in Hong Kong."

"Through arrests, threats, and forcing through a National Security Law that penalizes free speech, Beijing has insisted on wielding its power to suppress independent media and silence dissenting views," he said.

Biden vowed that the United States "will not waver in our support of people in Hong Kong and all those who stand up for the basic freedoms all people deserve."

The shutdown deals the most serious blow yet to Hong Kong's media freedoms and could potentially destroy the city's reputation as a media hub after Beijing imposed the security law on the financial center last year, media advocacy groups say.