When Hong Kong¡¯s richest tycoons declared their support for the city¡¯s national security law in June, it wasn¡¯t what they said that stood out as much as how they said it.
One by one, the financial hub¡¯s most prominent capitalists ¡ª from Li Ka-shing to Raymond Kwok ¡ª delivered their endorsements in a strikingly similar way: by giving interviews or statements to Hong Kong newspapers controlled by China¡¯s Communist Party.
It was a notable shift from last year, when the tycoons used a variety of media to weigh in on pro-democracy demonstrations, and a sign of growing influence for a publishing empire that China has spent decades amassing in Hong Kong. As the Chinese government moves to snuff out the city¡¯s protest movement, it¡¯s now tapping this empire to promote its agenda and, according to critics including independent publishers and pro-democracy lawmakers, silence dissenting voices like never before.
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