U.S. Delays Annual Report on Hong Kong’s Autonomy, Pompeo Says
U.S. Delays Annual Report on Hong Kong’s Autonomy, Pompeo Says
(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. delayed an annual report to Congress assessing Hong Kong’s autonomy, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said, amid signals that China’s top agency in the city could take a more hands-on role.
The postponement will “allow us to account for any additional actions that Beijing may be contemplating in the run-up to the National People’s Congress that would further undermine the people of Hong Kong’s autonomy as promised by China,” Pompeo told reporters in Washington Wednesday.
The move came days after China’s Liaison Office -- its top agency in Hong Kong -- accused resurgent pro-democracy protesters of jeopardizing the financial hub’s future. The U.S. previously dismayed China by showing support for Hong Kong’s demonstrators, who kicked off months of protests opposing Beijing’s increasing grip on the city last June.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying pushed back at a briefing in Beijing Thursday, calling Hong Kong a domestic issue.
The city “is part of China and it is part of China’s domestic affairs,” she said. “We oppose U.S. interference in our domestic affairs in any form.”
Special Status
Legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump amended the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992, under which the U.S. grants Hong Kong “special status” different from that of mainland China in areas including trade and commerce. If that status were to be taken away, Hong Kong would effectively be treated no differently than any other Chinese city.
Protests that dwindled during the coronavirus pandemic have flared again in recent weeks. As they have, Beijing’s agencies have grown increasingly assertive, arguing for a greater role in supervising Hong Kong politics ahead of Legislative Council elections set for September.
Pompeo’s comments came after the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office -- the Beijing-based agency overseeing the Liaison Office -- was criticized by opposition politicians and lawyers in April after claiming they weren’t bound by constitutional provisions against interference in local affairs agreed to before Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997.
Last month also saw the arrests of 15 prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activists in connection with unauthorized assemblies last year, a move condemned by Washington.
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