For more than two decades, citizens and residents in the former British colony of Hong Kong have enjoyed a wide range of freedoms and legal protections unthinkable in any other part of the People’s Republic of China. These protections, guaranteed by the territory’s tradition of judicial independence, are the bedrock of the city’s extraordinary success as a regional entrep?t. It is precisely because of these legal safeguards that many international companies, including most global media organisations, have chosen to base their regional headquarters in Hong Kong.

Last week, the Hong Kong authorities rejected the visa renewal application of Victor Mallet, the Financial Times’ Asia news editor responsible for coverage throughout the region. No reason was given for this decision, the first time a foreign journalist has been effectively expelled from Hong Kong since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

This weekend, the Chinese foreign ministry said merely that visa matters fall “within a country’s sovereignty”.