Chris Tang slams WSJ piece on ‘subversive art’ as "groundless”

Hong Kong's Security Chief Chris Tang on Tuesday criticized an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on a seizure by authorities of a statue commemorating Beijing's Tiananmen Square crackdown on democracy protesters in 1989.   

RTHK reported late on Tuesday that Tang said in a letter to the WSJ that the opinion piece "Subversive Art is a crime in Hong Kong" held "groundless remarks" that mislead leaders.   

In the letter, Tang stated that the WSJ’s opinion that the seizure of the "Pillar of Shame" by Hong Kong Police's National Security Department was done quietly without due process was untrue, and that officers acted with a court warrant on Friday and issued a press release regarding the operation. 

"That the opinion piece presented the exhibit of the criminal investigation as an 'artwork' and the case as one concerning mere 'dissent' is totally misleading," Tang wrote.   

The Pillar of Shame, created by Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot, is an eight-meter (26 feet), two-ton copper artwork commemorating the victims of China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. It was dismantled and removed from the campus in 2021, where it had been on display for more than two decades, with the university citing legal and other concerns.   

It has since been kept in a cargo container on university-owned land.   

The seizure comes weeks before the June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.   

Hong Kong had traditionally held the most significant annual vigils in the world to commemorate the crackdown. Still, vigils have been barred by police from taking place since 2020 due to coronavirus restrictions.   

(Staff and Reuters)