Japanese journalist barred from entering Hong Kong, deported from airport

A Japanese journalist was denied entry into Hong Kong earlier this week and sent back to Tokyo, without any reason. Freelance journalist Yoshiaki Ogawa arrived in the city by plane on Thursday evening but was soon taken to a separate room by the officials after he showed his passport.

Afterwards, Ogawa was made to wait for a while before the officers came and interviewed him at length for nearly an hour. They made him sign a document acknowledging that he could not enter the city before being deported back to Japan. Upon asking officials why he was being sent back, they only told him that he could not be granted permission to stay.

54-year-old Ogawa is a freelance journalist renowned for his coverage of Hong Kong. After Thursday's event, he said Hong Kong had definitely changed, due to the increased Chinese influence.

“I’ve worked to convey things about Hong Kong to Japan, but it was not like I was going to do any (suspicious) activities in the city,” Ogawa said shortly after arriving at Narita Airport near Tokyo.

“(This incident) has truly made me feel how Hong Kong has changed....this would have been unthinkable before," he added.

Ogawa said he wasn't planning to write anything when he landed in Hong Kong. However, the 'misstep' by the authorities led to more conversation on social media and media organisations, highlighting the situation in the city.

“He wasn’t even part of a big news organisation, he was just a freelance journalist. I personally think this is a sign that the situation in Hong Kong is becoming more severe,” Sam Yip, spokesperson for the Japan-Hong Kong Democracy Alliance was quoted as saying in The Japan Times.

China's authoritarian stamp

Ever since Beijing-imposed national security law was implemented across the city in 2020, Asia's financial capital has become yet another authoritarian playground where press freedom and democratic rights are non-existent.

Notably, earlier this week, prominent Chinese financial journalist Wu Xiaobo, with over 4,7 million followers on Weibo was banned from social media platforms for his critical views of the Xi Jinping government.

According to media reports, all media content posted on Wu's Weibo page since April 2022 appears to have been scrubbed out. The platform's content moderators said they had blocked three verified users for "spreading smears against the development of the securities market" and "hyping up the unemployment rate".

(With inputs from agencies)

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