Blinken says China biggest threat to press freedom for number of journalists detained

US secretary of state Antony Blinken has targeted Beijing on World Press Freedom Day and accused it of restrict press freedom both in mainland China as well as Hong Kong.

Mr Blinken said in a statement that “free speech – including free media, including platforms of one kind or another – are incredibly important to the Biden Administration.”

“We’ve made that clear at home; we’ve made that clear around the world,” he said.

Citing data from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Mr Blinken said: "Two hundred and ninety-three journalists were behind bars at the end of 2021. That’s a new annual record, and this is according to the Committee to Protect Journalists."

"The PRC [People’s Republic of China] continues to hold the highest number, imprisoning some 50 journalists, including eight from Hong Kong,” he said.

He also accused China of misusing technology to restrict free press and said that the US government is “deeply concerned about what we’re seeing from the PRC in terms of its misuse of its technology to try to do things like increase surveillance, harassment, intimidation, censorship of PRC citizens, of journalists, of activists and others. And that includes abroad.”

“At the same time, we have a total imbalance because these very same leaders in Beijing are using the free and open media – that we ensure that are protected in democratic systems – to spread propaganda, to spread disinformation. And ultimately, that’s an unsustainable proposition.”

“Now, it also appears that they are further using these systems to stalk, harass, to threaten critics who are outside the PRC’s territory.”

Mr Blinken’s comments on China came after federal prosecutors in New York alleged that China’s Ministry of State Security sought to quash dissident voices with years-long harassment and spying campaigns in March.

Prosecutors said five people in the US acting on behalf of Chinese secret police sought to intimidate Chinese nationals and US critics of Beijing – including a New York congressional candidate and an Olympic figure skater and her father – to silence dissident voices abroad.

“We’ve condemned and we’ve taken action against these efforts, and we’ll continue to defend the principles of a free press, an open, secure, reliable, and interoperable internet and the benefits that flow from it,” Mr Blinken said.

China has rejected the secretary of state’s criticism on Tuesday and said in a statement that Mr Blinken’s remarks are “an attempt to pressure China with unfounded allegations”.

“The Chinese government protects the rights and interests of journalists and citizens’ freedom of speech in accordance with the law, and gives full play to the supervisory role of the media and citizens,” said Liu Pengyu, Chinese embassy’s spokesperson was quoted as saying to the South China Morning Post.