Overview
- China’s Office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong said it summoned some foreign media heads and reporters over allegedly spreading false information about recent high‑rise residential fires and the Dec. 7 election.
- Officials asserted that certain reports distorted the government’s disaster relief efforts, obstructed the Legislative Council poll, and stoked social division.
- The office warned that no outlet should invoke press freedom as a pretext to interfere in China’s internal affairs or Hong Kong matters.
- Authorities did not disclose which organizations or individuals were questioned, and no charges or subsequent legal steps were detailed in the available reports.
- Kyodo News reported the announcement, which was carried by regional Japanese newspapers; separate reporting notes this is the second election under the 2021 vetting system, with pro‑Beijing dominance considered assured and turnout widely expected to be very low.