U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said the closure of the Apple Daily tabloid in Hong Kong signaled "intensifying repression by Beijing" and urged China to stop targeting the independent press and release detained journalists and media executives.
"People in Hong Kong have the right to freedom of the press. Instead, Beijing is denying basic liberties and assaulting Hong Kong's autonomy and democratic institutions and processes, inconsistent with its international obligations," Biden said in a statement following the news outlet's closure earlier on Thursday.
