2 newly elected committee members quit as security chief takes aim at Hong Kong journalists’ group

Outgoing Hong Kong Journalists Association chief stresses that membership is rigorously vetted and body remains representative

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Members of the HKJA’s new executive committee line up for pictures. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:33pm, 22 Jun 2024Updated: 2:39pm, 23 Jun 2024

Corrected [2:35pm, 23 Jun, 2024]

[2:35pm, 23 Jun, 2024]
This story has been updated to reflect that two non-journalist candidates took part in the election, not one as originally reported.

Two new members of the governing body of Hong Kong’s largest journalists’ group quit immediately upon election on Saturday after the city’s security chief earlier pointed to foreign correspondents and non-reporters as being among the candidates.

Ronson Chan Ron-sing, outgoing chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), pushed back at Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung’s criticism, stressing that its membership was rigorously vetted and the body remained representative.

Tang on Friday called the HKJA an organisation “with no recognition” and said it had stood with the “black-clad violent mob” during the 2019 anti-government unrest when he answered a reporter’s question on a suspicious text message received by association members.

He also commented on candidates for the association’s executive committee, primarily comprising freelance journalists and correspondents of foreign news groups.

“At first glance, I thought they were from the Foreign Correspondents’ Club because most of them are foreign media reporters, and some are freelance journalists,” Tang said.

“Some are not even journalists, and their organisations are known to have accepted money from the United States and engaged in political activities in Hong Kong.”