Using Covid as a Crackdown Excuse

Governments across Asia find it easier to arrest critics than to fight the virus

Across Asia from Cambodia to Myanmar to China and Hong Kong and beyond, governments are using the Covid-19 crisis to clamp down on freedom of expression, often labeling complaints over government bumbling and mismanagement to be “fake news” and bringing charges against critics.

In other areas, including Hong Kong, as the adjacent article shows, officials…