American newspaper The Wall Street Journal has terminated Hong Kong-based reporter Selina Cheng weeks after she was elected chair of the city’s embattled Hong Kong Journalist Association (HKJA), which has met with increasing pressure from authorities.

Reporters on Wednesday afternoon received an invitation to a press conference at 5.30 pm about the “unreasonable decision to terminate the employment of HKJA chair Selina Cheng.”

The newspaper announced in early May that it planned to move its Asia headquarters to Singapore, with layoffs of Hong Kong staff.

According to Hong Kong’s Employment Ordinance, employees cannot be dismissed for trade union membership and activities.

HKFP will reach out to The Wall Street Journal for comment.

HKJA chair

Cheng was elected chairperson of the HKJA at the association’s Annual General Meeting on June 22, with 100 votes in favour of her candidacy and two against it. A new Executive Committee was also elected at the meeting.

The 56-year-old press group has come under fire from Hong Kong authorities and state-backed media since the city was wracked by months-long protests and unrest in 2019. The HKJA has been accused of smearing the police force, allowing “fake journalists” to join, and protecting protestors.

On June 21, Secretary for Security Chris Tang claimed the HKJA – the city’s largest press group – did not represent the news media industry as it lacked candidates from local mainstream media.

“Looking at [the list of candidates], it looks more like a foreign journalists’ association to me. Most of them are journalists from foreign media, some are freelancers, some are not even journalists and their organisations have engaged in political activities,” he said in Cantonese. He appeared to be referring to the Justice Centre candidate Preston Cheung, and state media reports that it had in the past received foreign funding.

Cheung and the BBC’s Danny Vincent said they wanted to drop out of the race for executive committee seats, but the union said there was no mechanism for them to withdraw.

HKJA issued a statement at the evening of June 22 stating that Cheung and Vincent had resigned after the election.

Hong Kong has plummeted in international press freedom indices since the onset of the security law. Watchdogs cite the arrest of journalists, raids on newsrooms and the closure of around 10 media outlets including Apple Daily, Stand News and Citizen News. Over 1,000 journalists have lost their jobs, whilst many have emigrated. Meanwhile, the city’s government-funded broadcaster RTHK has adopted new editorial guidelines, purged its archives and axed news and satirical shows.

See also: Explainer: Hong Kong’s press freedom under the national security law

In 2022, Chief Executive John Lee said press freedom was “in the pocket” of Hongkongers but “nobody is above the law.” Although he has told the press to “tell a good Hong Kong story,” government departments have been reluctant to respond to story pitches.

This is a developing story – please refresh for updates…

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All HKFP staff are members of the HKJA, and Hans Tse is a member of the 2024-25 Executive Committee.

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