HONG KONG - HONG Kong's media has become increasingly reluctant to criticise Beijing in the past year undermining the territory's much-cherished freedom of expression, a campaign group said on Sunday.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association said in its annual report 'there are growing indications of self-censorship in the (local) media, in particular in areas that are sensitive to China'.

The former British colony has much greater freedoms than in mainland China, but some newspapers have been suspected of downplaying critical China coverage if it could affect commercial interests of their parent companies.

'The irony is that although media freedoms remain largely intact in Hong Kong, the scope for expressing dissenting views - in particular on subjects that are sensitive to Beijing - is narrowing,' the report said.

The association called on Hong Kong's government to resist national security legislation, such as that recently passed in neighbouring Macau, enact freedom of information legislation and stop blocking some activists from the territory.

In the past year, several activists critical of Beijing have been prevented from entering the territory ahead of the Olympics and the 20th anniversary of the military crackdown on protests in the capital's Tiananmen Square.

The report said Hong Kong's existing freedoms were, at times, 'fragile' and needed greater protection. -- AFP