Western media urged to stop telling ‘one-sided stories’ about Hong Kong, mainland China

Media outlets should foster understanding rather than “paranoia”, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry’s arm in Hong Kong has said, insisting the city remains an international hub for the press despite recent cases of foreign journalists being denied work visas or refused entry.

Huang Jingrui, spokesman for the Commissioner’s Office of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong, said on Wednesday that residents enjoyed “all the freedom” provided under the “one country, two systems” governing model as long as they abided by the government’s “red lines”.

During a talk hosted by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Huang also indicated that Beijing was considering further easing entry requirements to mainland China for Hong Kong’s non-permanent residents.

Huang said Hong Kong and the mainland’s reputation had been “smeared” in recent years, and that the media, particularly in the West, had “become a problem” and kept telling “one-sided stories”.

“If you check the Western media, whenever it mentions Hong Kong, 90 per cent of the time it’s about national security cases,” Huang said.

“It gives the outside world the impression that both [the] mainland and Hong Kong have become a state or region of surveillance … but it’s totally wrong.”