HONG KONG (AP) – Hong Kong’s leader said Thursday that the city’s public libraries would not recommend books with “bad ideologies” to residents after they removed titles related to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and certain political figures , further reducing the city’s freedoms.
CEO John Lee was addressing a lawmaker’s question about dozens of books in public libraries that were removed without a clear explanation. These include posts about the bloody crackdown and others written by pro-democracy politicians and political commentators.
Hong Kong is a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997, promising to retain its Western-style freedoms. But the city’s cultural and creative sectors said the city’s freedoms have been curtailed since Beijing imposed a tough national security law following mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Critics said the book removal would further undermine Hong Kong’s reputation for free access to information and freedom of expression.
But Lee defended the blanket law in the legislature, saying Hong Kong’s freedoms are protected by the city’s constitution.
“The books we offer residents are the ones we recommend,” he said. “We would never recommend books that are illegal and infringe on copyright. We would never recommend books that we believe have bad ideologies.”
He said residents could still find those books to read elsewhere. He did not explain what was considered “bad ideologies” and why the books were removed.
When asked why the books were removed, the Department of Leisure and Cultural Services said that public libraries review and remove materials that do not fit “collection development” from time to time. If any material is suspected to be contrary to national security interests or violate laws, libraries will immediately suspend services of the material in question for review, he said.
Local media reported the withdrawal of the books after a Chinese newspaper on Sunday stopped publishing works by the city’s most prominent political cartoonist following government complaints. The cartoonist’s comic book collections were also not available in public libraries.
Political scholar Ivan Choy said a book he co-authored was withdrawn despite the prior approval of former Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Secretary Stephen Lam. Lam wrote the foreword for the title and said it was the most comprehensive book on the city’s electoral system, Choy said.
“We wrote this book as academics and we’re not trying to make a political statement. So I think they’ve overreacted,” he said.
After withdrawing the books and stopping the publication of political cartoons, Choy wondered how Hong Kong could still stand as an international metropolis without being broad-minded and inclusive. He added that China wants Hong Kong to become a center of international cultural exchange, where East meets West.
He said the changes prevent Hong Kong from living up to its reputation.
Since a sweeping security law was enacted in 2020, the city’s art and media communities have learned to be wary of crossing loosely defined red lines in the production of art and other content that could be perceived as a challenge to the control of the Chinese Communist Party.
The group that organized Hong Kong’s annual vigil commemorating the Tiananmen Square crackdown also voted to disband in 2021 under the shadow of the security law. The annual vigil was the only large-scale public commemoration of the event on Chinese soil and was attended by massive crowds until authorities banned it in 2020, citing pandemic measures.
Supporters say the group’s closure shows that the freedoms and autonomy promised when Hong Kong returned to China in 1997 are waning.
This year, a mass vigil is unlikely to be held at its usual venue, Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, on June 4. Instead, some pro-Beijing groups will host a bazaar to celebrate the city’s handover to Chinese rule.
