blinken on wednesday condemned the closure calling the move a silencing of independent media and urging china to release those detained and stop targeting the press. chinese officials today are refuting those claims. these actions have nothing to do with so-called suppression of press freedom or suppression of democracy as some will put it. so i would say that nobody should associate law enforcement actions by the police department with the freedom of the press. the raid follows another alarming trend. the removal of statutes to the among other recent calls of international concern.