The statements issued by China and Hong Kong after Monday’s arrest of media tycoon Jimmy Lai underlined how quickly a national security law passed in June is undermining the city’s independent judicial system.

The Hong Kong Police Force on Twitter disputed a claim it searched the newsroom of Lai’s flagship Apple Daily newspaper without a warrant, and made clear that Lai and others were arrested "in suspicion of breaches” of the security law. Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s government used similar language that offered room for a presumption of innocence, saying they were "suspected” of breaching the law and an investigation was under way.

China’s government, meanwhile, effectively declared them all guilty. The Foreign Ministry’s representative in Hong Kong called them "anti-China troublemakers” who put "the long-term stability of Hong Kong in jeopardy.” It accused the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong, of trying to "whitewash” Lai and suggested the organization was "siding with the forces sowing trouble in Hong Kong and China at large.”