Editor’s note for Tuesday, April 12, 2022
A note for Access newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn.
My thoughts today:
Chinese government censors are minimizing news of COVID-19 lockdowns: The top news stories in most state and commercial media today were about Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 visiting a national park in Hainan Island and his concern for the livelihood of the common people.
But Chinese journalists are out there reporting on the snarled-up transportation that is causing people in Shanghai to go hungry, and we have compiled many of these reports to bring you a picture of the logistics situation in China today in our top story.
Yesterday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price tweeted: “Hong Kong’s position as a free, global financial center depends on the free flow of information and opinions. We call on the Hong Kong government to free Allan Au and all others imprisoned for exercising their fundamental freedoms. Journalism is not a crime.”
He was referring to the Hong Kong police yesterday arresting veteran journalist Allan Au (區家麟 Qū Jiālín) of the now-shuttered critical media outlet Stand News for alleged sedition.
In response, China’s foreign affairs office in Hong Kong issued a statement (English, Chinese) that urged “the external forces to immediately stop botched and boring political performances.”
Our word of the day, naturally, is “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs urges the external forces to immediately stop botched and boring political performances.”
外交部…敦促外部势力立即停止无理无聊的政治表演。
wàijiāobù…dūncù wàibù shìlì lìjí tíngzhǐ wúlǐ wúliáo de zhèngzhì biǎoyǎn.
Finally, my thanks to Shanghai resident Moritz Sanner for updates about that wonderful, maddening city!
