Hong Kong journalist says she was fired by WSJ after taking top post at union under attack by Beijing

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A Wall Street Journal reporter in Hong Kong said she was fired after being elected to lead a press union that has come under attack by Beijing amid a national security crackdown.

Selina Cheng, who was elected chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) on June 22, said in a statement posted Wednesday on X that she had been terminated from her job covering China’s car sector earlier in the day.

Her London-based supervisor at The Journal had asked her last month to withdraw from the election, she added.

“The editor said employees of the Journal should not be seen as advocating for press freedom in a place like Hong Kong, even though they can in Western countries, where it is already established,” Cheng said in the statement.

She quoted her supervisor as saying having Journal employees advocate for media freedoms would create conflicts of interest because the newspaper reports on related topics, including the ongoing trials of Hong Kong journalists and media organizations.

“I am disappointed if these editors abroad have come to think press freedom is a controversial issue, as those who wish to intimidate reporters might like us to believe,” she said. “It is not.”

The HKJA, a trade union established in 1968, has come under increasing pressure from authorities in recent years. Both Hong Kong officials andBeijing state media have accused it of siding with protesters during the anti-government demonstrations in 2019, a charge the association has denied.

For decades before the protests, the group was seen as a thriving symbol of Hong Kong’s