SCMP: Hong Kong Book Fair organisers urge exhibitors to be ‘self-disciplined’ with national security law in place

More of the same……

  • Books at seven-day fair will not be vetted or censored but publishers must participate within limits of law, organisers say
  • First book fair to be held since Beijing-imposed security legislation came into force last June will run from July 14 to 20

 

Organisers of the Hong Kong Book Fair, which returns on July 14 after a coronavirus

-related absence last year, have said police could be called in to deal with exhibits if attendees complain they are violating the national security law or the city’s obscenity ordinance.

Benjamin Chau Kai-leung, deputy executive director of the Trade Development Council (TDC), said books at the seven-day fair would not be vetted or censored by organisers but exhibitors had to be “self-disciplined” under the national security law.

“After the enactment of the national security law, we will require all publishers to participate within the limits of the law but we will not conduct any screening,” Chau said on Thursday, stressing the book fair, Asia’s largest, had been a “free and transparent” platform over the past three decades.

Benjamin Chau (second from left) joins other dignitaries at the official announcement of the book fair. Photo: Nora Tam
Benjamin Chau (second from left) joins other dignitaries at the official announcement of the book fair. Photo: Nora Tam

It will be the first book fair since the Beijing-imposed legislation came into force last June. Critics feared the law, which bans acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, could be used to limit free speech and silence dissent.

Responding to questions at a press briefing, Chau said any complaints about exhibited materials would be submitted to the Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration (OFNAA) for assessment. Police could be involved if the publisher did not remove the items in question and might be banned from future events, he added.

In the past, the fair’s guidelines only focused on books that might fall foul of obscenity laws.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3138650/hong-kong-book-fair-organisers-urge-exhibitors-be