Hong Kong will strictly vet applications for event subsidies and performance venues, as well as exhibition content and library collections, to better safeguard national security, the city’s culture minister has said.
Hong Kong is still facing threats from “soft resistance,” which may take the form of performance content, song lyrics, and storylines, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law said in an interview with Beijing-backed newspaper Wen Wei Po published on Friday.
Law said the authorities must “remain vigilant” at all times and that safeguarding national security was an “ongoing process.”
“There is no completion, only continuation. We must continue to take national security work seriously and carry it out diligently,” the minister said.
The Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau has stepped up training for its personnel to “deepen their sense of national awareness,” Law said. The bureau also vowed strict vetting of event subsidies, venue performances, exhibition content, and library collections to “eliminate any elements that may harm national security,” she added.
Since 2021, government officials have cited “soft resistance” as a threat to national security, although they have not provided a clear definition of the term.
A recent example cited by the authorities was the mobile game Reversed Front: Bonfire, which the government said promotes secessionist agendas, advocates “armed revolution,” and calls for the overthrow of the “fundamental system of the People’s Republic of China.”
Commissioner of Police Joe Chow warned of “undercurrents” and “soft resistance” in the art, culture, and media sectors during a press conference in April, shortly after taking the helm at the force.
He later said national security legislation does not affect artistic creation in Hong Kong, adding that many artists or performers understand the “boundaries of the law.”
Last month, former district councillor Katrina Chan Kim-kam, one of the first people arrested under Hong Kong’s domestic security law, said she was told to withdraw from a play after a government department – from which the organisers rented out the venue to host the production – threatened to cancel the rental, citing a potential breach of the national security clause.
Chan was set to perform in a play at Tsuen Wan Town Hall. The venue’s conditions of use for facilities state that hirers and those admitted to facilities must abide by the Beijing-imposed national security law.
In response to HKFP, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) said all bookings are processed “in accordance with the established booking procedures and the terms and conditions of hire.” The department also refused to comment on individual bookings.
In 2021, an HKFP report revealed that 29 out of 149 books about the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown were removed from the shelves over the past 12 years.
Local media reported in May 2023 that political titles by authors including academics Simon Shen and Ma Ngok, former lawmaker and barrister Margaret Ng, and the late prominent democrat Szeto Wah had been purged from the shelves of local public libraries.
According to Ming Pao, around 40 per cent of books and recordings about political topics or figures have been removed from public libraries since 2020. Of 468 political books and recordings identified by the newspaper, at least 195 have been removed, the newspaper reported.
In July 2023, LCSD said members of the public are “welcome” to report books that may endanger national security, as part of its new channels for collecting views on the city’s library collections.
The LCSD told HKFP in October that year that 50 reports were made by the public about suspected “objectionable” content found in library books and other titles.
Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.
