Hong Kong Security Minister Chris Tang claims the op-ed misled readers by describing sculpture as a “work of art.”
Hong Kong’s top security official has accused the Wall Street Journal of misleading its readers with an op-ed condemning the seizure of a sculpture commemorating the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
Hong Kong’s National Security Police last week seized the Pillar of Shame, a work of art created by Danish artist Jens Galschiøt, as part of an investigation into alleged “subversion incitement”.
The statue’s seizure comes weeks before the June 4 anniversary of the crackdown, the commemoration of which has been banned on Chinese territory since Beijing passed a sweeping national security law in 2020.
The artwork, which depicts 50 torn and twisted bodies to symbolize protesters killed in the crackdown, had been in storage since the University of Hong Kong removed it from its campus in the middle of the night in late 2021, citing security concerns and ” legal risks”. .
In a letter to the Journal on Tuesday, Hong Kong’s Security Minister Chris Tang claimed it was “totally misleading” to describe the statue as a “work of art”.
“As with any other case, it is legal, reasonable and rational to collect evidence after the progress of the investigation to move the case forward,” Tang said.
“That the op-ed presented the exhibition of the criminal investigation as a ‘work of art’ and the case as a case of mere ‘dissent’ is totally misleading.”
Tang also criticized the article for claiming the statue had been seized “without due process” and “quietly”, and said authorities obtained a court order and issued a press release about the operation.
The Journal had not published Tang’s letter by Wednesday afternoon.
In the op-ed titled “Subversive Art is a crime in Hong Kong,” published Monday, Jillian Kay Melchior said the statue’s seizure showed that Hong Kong was not “back to normal,” despite officials’ best efforts to keep tourists and businesses to attract. .
“The advertising campaign claims that visitors can enjoy ‘innovative encounters in world-class museums and art venues,'” wrote Melchior, a member of the paper’s editorial board. “Yet apparently only Communist Party-approved art will be on display, while allegedly subversive art may now be a criminal offence.”
The Hong Kong government and the Journal did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms, which should be guaranteed until 2047 under a regime known as “one country, two systems”, have been seriously deteriorated under the national security law, which was introduced in response to often violent mass protests in 2019.
Authorities in the former British colony have effectively wiped out all political opposition, arresting or disqualifying most of the city’s pro-democracy lawmakers, shutting down critical media outlets and virtually banning criticism of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).