![Hong Kong’s security law is transforming the city even faster than expected Hong Kong’s security law is transforming the city even faster than expected](https://morningtopnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/200811110832-agnes-chow-hong-kong-0810-01-super-tease-768x432.jpg)
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Lai had strong ties in Washington, particularly with the Republican Party, and has testified before US Congress in the past.
Hours later on Monday, Agnes Chow, a 23-year-old pro-democracy politician, was arrested on suspicion of inciting secession, another new offense. Chow is a former member of Demosisto, a political party founded by prominent activist Joshua Wong that was disbanded shortly after the security law came into force.
Another former Demosisto leader, Nathan Law, has fled overseas, where he is being sought by Hong Kong police.
Press crackdown
The tabloid, which mixes celebrity gossip with political coverage, has struggled to attract advertisers due to its stance, and Lai has faced harassment, threats, and multiple criminal cases for his activism.
Many observers, including Lai, had predicted that he and the paper would be targeted under the new law, but Monday’s raid was nevertheless met with shock by many in Hong Kong, particularly due to the scale of the police operation, which was livestreamed online by Apple Daily’s own reporters.
An official representing the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong said Monday that the FCC had “misrepresented the truth, heaped groundless accusations upon the National Security Law and law-enforcement efforts of the Hong Kong police, and tried to whitewash and justify Jimmy Lai and other criminal suspects.”
Changing environment
Apple Daily was the “last bastion” of press freedom in Hong Kong, she added. “(The government) is sending a very dire signal not only to the local press but also the foreign press in Hong Kong: you watch out.”
Any doubt that the arrests of Lai, Chow and others were intended to send a message could be dispelled by Chinese state media’s coverage, which laid it out clearly.
“Opposition groups should know how to adjust to a changing environment,” Tian said.
They may be trying to adjust, but as this week’s developments show, the environment is changing faster than many expected.
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