US NGO the Asia Society has said it was clear that “an error in judgement at the staff level was made” after its Hong Kong centre barred activist Joshua Wong from speaking at a book launch originally scheduled to take place at its Admiralty venue last Wednesday.
Freedom of expression NGO PEN Hong Kong eventually decided to relocate the launch of Hong Kong 20/20: Reflections on a Borrowed Place – of which Wong was one of the authors – to the Foreign Correspondents Club in Central.
On Friday, Asia Society’s headquarters in New York issued a statement saying that it took the issue very seriously.
“[A]fter looking into the circumstances, it is clear that an error in judgement at the staff level was made involving the PEN Hong Kong event,” it read.
“Asia Society, throughout its history, has hosted events at all of its global locations with speakers representing all sides of major Asia-related issues. This has been one of our core principles since our founding in 1956; it’s still our policy today. We remain steadfast in our mission to serve as a global forum for meaningful and open dialogue.”
It noted that Wong had spoken at the Asia Society in New York in May along with other speakers from Hong Kong.
Thanks @AsiaSocietyNY for hosting me in May. I hope investigation will lead to details of selfcensorship case in HK. https://t.co/my2a67sueZ
— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 😷 (@joshuawongcf) July 7, 2017
“Wong and speakers from all sides of the issue are welcome at Asia Society,” it added.
The Center on U.S.-China Relations, part of Asia Society which hosted the May event, also issued a statement on Friday saying it was “dismayed to read news stories” about Wong being barred from speaking.
“We hosted an excellent discussion with Mr. Wong in New York this spring, and we look forward to inviting him back,” it said.
“Throughout our 10-year history we have always been, and we remain firmly committed to, an open exchange of ideas of all kinds. Our commitment to open and free expression is essential to all of our work.”
“As our founding mission statement pledges, we seek mutual understanding between the U.S. and China by ‘undertaking projects and events which explore areas of common interest and divergent views,’” it added. “We intend to continue to uphold these principles in our research, reports, and public programming, and in the editing of ChinaFile and our other publications.”
In response, PEN Hong Kong tweeted that it was looking forward to seeing a Joshua Wong event at the Asia Society.
We are looking forward to a Joshua Wong event at the Asia Society: https://t.co/s2R62QaRNV
— PEN Hong Kong (@hongkongpen) July 7, 2017
Headquartered in New York, Asia Society’s stated aim is to promote collaboration between Asia and the United States.
The board of trustees of Asia Society Hong Kong centre includes Ronnie Chan – a real estate mogul and key supporter of former chief executive Leung Chun-ying – and young pro-Beijing property tycoon Lau Ming-wai.
Last November, Asia Society Hong Kong also cancelled a scheduled screening of Raise The Umbrellas, a documentary on the 2014 Occupy protests.
