On Saturday, the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong summoned senior representatives and journalists from several foreign media outlets for a closed-door meeting. Officials accused some international media organizations of spreading false information in their coverage of the recent Wang Fuk Court fire tragedy and the upcoming Hong Kong Legislative Council election, alleging that such reporting “smeared” the government’s work.
The Office — created in 2020 after Beijing imposed the Hong Kong National Security Law — has since become the public face of Beijing’s security apparatus operating openly in the city, empowered to investigate and prosecute national security offenses. At the meeting, an unnamed official read a prepared statement but declined to specify which reports were considered problematic and refused to answer journalists’ questions. A notice on the Office’s website warned foreign correspondents to “exercise self-discipline, take care of yourselves, and do not touch the legal red lines.” The notice did not disclose which media organizations were summoned.
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