Co-organiser of independent book fair rebuts ‘soft resistance' accusation from Beijing-backed paper Wen Wei Po
In a front-page report on Monday, the paper said that 'Reading Everywhere – Hong Kong Independent Book Fair and Bookstore Festival' was full of 'an atmosphere of soft resistance.'
The report also carried the tag, 'Cracking down on soft resistance.'
The independent book fair was co-organised by and held at Hunter Bookstore, an indie bookshop in Sham Shui Po, from Thursday to Monday.
As part of the event, a series of talks on new books also took place at different independent bookshops, such as Book Punch and Have a Nice Stay.
Wen Wei Po alleged that 'Reading Everywhere' sold books with messages that 'oppose China and disturb Hong Kong.' The paper cited as examples: a biography of the jailed pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai, a memoir of former Democratic Party lawmaker Emily Lau, and a new novel written by pro-democracy political commentator Johnny Lau.
According to the report, an undercover Wen Wei Po reporter went to the book fair and asked a staff member at Hunter Bookstore whether the store was selling a biography of Lai. The shop attendant said the book would be on sale after the book fair.
'This indicated the staff member was well aware of the 'soft resistance' nature of the book,' the report read.
In response to HKFP's enquiry, Leticia Wong, director of Hunter Bookstore, said Lai's biography was published by a Taiwanese publisher and copies of the book had just arrived a few days ago.
She said she did not display the new book at the book fair because the event focused more on local publishing.
'It's not because we're hiding the title,' Wong said in Cantonese. 'If the government said we can't sell this book, we immediately wouldn't sell it. But right now the government has said nothing.'
Wen Wei Po also accused the independent book fair of placing a donation box for the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA). The paper previously labelled the press union an 'anti-government political organisation.'
Wong rejected the accusation, saying that the book fair did not place any donation box for the HKJA nor sell any merchandise of the organisation. 'It's ridiculous. They even got the facts wrong,' she said.
Wen Wei Po also alleged that Book Punch ordered Lai's biography for readers and sold HKJA merchandise.
Pong Yat-ming, owner of Book Punch, told HKFP on Monday that they sold HKJA keyrings and they had no further response to Wen Wei Po's report.
'Surprised'
A journalist-turned-politician, Lau is a member of the city's largest pro-democracy party, the Democratic Party, and served as a lawmaker from 1991 to 2016. She published her memoir, Stay Here, in July.
The pro-Beijing paper referred to her new book as an example of 'soft resistance' and called Lau a 'lawmaker of the Mutual Destruction Camp.' It also alleged that she criticised the 'enhanced' election systems as a 'regression of democracy' in the book.
'Mutual destruction' is a phrase arising from the 2019 protests and unrest, which expresses a willingness by protesters to exhaust all means, even at the cost of sacrifice, to bring about justice or damage the government.
'I am surprised. I never knew that I would be categorised as the Mutual Destruction Camp,' Emily told HKFP in Cantonese. 'In fact, this was the first time I was called this way.'
Many people have criticised the current election system as a 'regression of democracy,' Lau said. 'It's just my personal opinion. Of course, there are people praising it as 'progress of democracy.' I hope there is still freedom of speech in Hong Kong.'
In March 2021, Beijing passed legislation to ensure 'patriots' govern Hong Kong. The move reduced democratic representation in the legislature, tightened control of elections and introduced a pro-Beijing vetting panel to select candidates. The Hong Kong government said the overhaul would ensure the city's stability and prosperity. But the changes also prompted international condemnation, as it makes it near-impossible for pro-democracy candidates to stand.
'Soft resistance'
Since 2021, Chinese and Hong Kong officials have mentioned the phrase as a threat to national security but have not been specific about what it means.
In late June, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam gave an explanation of 'soft resistance' for the first time.
He said there were three main elements of soft resistance: making false or misleading statements, expressing them irrationally and with emotional bias, and with the intention of creating a misunderstanding about the Chinese and Hong Kong governments and their policies.
Lam said on Commercial Radio on Saturday that some forms of 'soft resistance' actually do not violate the law, and the authorities should utilise 'soft power' to handle 'soft resistance.'
'[We] should make sure [the public] understand what the government is doing and what is happening in our country… and to enhance people's understanding and belonging to the country,' Lam said in Cantonese.
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