Hong Kong police warn users over downloading ‘secessionist' mobile game
The game, Reversed Front: Bonfire, allows users to 'pledge allegiance' to various groups linked to locations that have been major flashpoints or targets for China including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet, Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Manchuria, in order to 'overthrow the communist regime' known as the 'People's Republic'.
While some aspects and place names of the game's worldview are imagined, the website says the game is 'a work of NON-FICTION' and 'any similarity to actual agencies, policies, or ethnic groups of the PRC [China] in this game is INTENTIONAL.'
Players may also choose to 'lead the communists to defeat all enemies' in the game, but it has provoked a reaction from authorities aligned with the Chinese Communist party (CCP).
On Tuesday Hong Kong police said Reversed Front was 'advocating armed revolution' and promoting Taiwanese and Hong Kong independence 'under the guise of a game'.
Downloading the game could see players charged with possessing seditious material, while making in-app purchases could be viewed as providing funding to the developers 'for the commission of secession or subversion', the police said.
Recommending the game could also constitute the offence of 'incitement to secession'.
In Reversed Front's worldview, communists have conquered surrounding lands and formed a mega state, ruling it as a 'colonial power with unprecedented cruelty', and forcing many of the conquered peoples to flee. Decades later, only Taiwan still stands its ground, 'fending off the persistent aggravation'.
The game asks players if Taiwan can stay safe by avoiding provocative action, or if it should 'refrain from repeating the same mistakes of the last 30 years which allowed thecommunists to grow into the behemoth today'.
In player descriptions, the game describes the communists as 'heavy-handed, reckless and inept' and accused of 'widespread corruption, embezzlement, exploitation, slaughter and defilement'.
On their Facebook page, the developers – known as ESC Taiwan or Taiwan Overseas Strategic Communication Working Group (ESC) – said the attention had boosted downloads. On Wednesday it said the game had topped the Hong Kong App Store's downloads chart on Tuesday night, before being taken down in the morning.
'We encourage users to change the country or region of their Apple ID in order to successfully download the game.'
The developers vowed not to actively filter or review any words or phrases in the game – a nod to recent controversies over censorship in Chinese-made or China-related games. It is unclear where ESC Taiwan is based.
The police warning over the game forms part of an ongoing crackdown on pro-democracy opposition in Hong Kong, where CCP control has steadily tightened around the once semi-autonomous city. In 2020 Beijing imposed the national security law on Hong Kong, with the city government's blessing, outlawing a broad range of dissenting behaviours as criminal.
Critics have accused authorities of weaponising the law to target opposition voices, including activists, politicians, labour unions, journalists and media outlets, as well as children's books and bookshops.
Additional research by Jason Tzu Kuan Lu
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