China Warns U.S. After Diplomat Meets With Prominent Protesters
China Warns U.S. After Diplomat Meets With Prominent Protesters
(Bloomberg) -- China has singled out a U.S. diplomat’s meeting with Hong Kong pro-democracy activists as evidence of allegations that foreign interference is to blame for historic unrest in Asia’s main financial hub.
Beijing “lodged solemn representations” with the U.S. on Thursday after reports emerged of a meeting between Julie Eadeh, the political unit chief for the American consulate in Hong Kong, and activist Joshua Wong, who served a brief jail term for his prominent role leading an earlier wave of pro-democracy protests in 2014.
China’s foreign ministry, which has previously said Hong Kong’s ongoing unrest was “the creation of the U.S.,” urged American diplomats in a statement to “draw a clear line with all anti-Chinese rioters, stop sending wrong signals to illegal violators, stop meddling in Hong Kong affairs, and stop going further down the wrong path.”
The warning comes after nine straight weeks of protests in Hong Kong, which started in opposition to a since-scrapped bill that would allow extraditions to mainland China but has expanded into calls for greater democracy.
China says the demonstrations, which have become increasingly confrontational and violent, are the most severe political turbulence Hong Kong has faced since its return to Chinese rule in 1997. They take place against a backdrop of increasing concern about Beijing’s encroaching influence on the territory.
U.S. Response
The U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong & Macau said Thursday that its diplomats meet with people from across Hong Kong’s political spectrum, including establishment lawmakers and those from the pan-democratic opposition.
“Representatives of the United States Government meet regularly with a wide cross section of people across Hong Kong and Macau,” the consulate said in a statement. “For example, the day of this particular meeting, our diplomats also met with both pro-establishment and pan-democratic camp legislators, as well as members of the American business community and the consular corps.”
In a Facebook statement on Wednesday, Wong acknowledged that he had met with a U.S. diplomat but shrugged off allegations that the meeting was proof of foreign interference.
“In the past, I’ve also visited Washington and communicated directly with U.S. lawmakers,” he wrote. “This meeting is nothing special.”
They discussed the legislative process of passing the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, Wong said, adding that he also urged the U.S. to stop exporting tear gas and rubber bullets to the Hong Kong police.
The meeting was featured in a local pro-Beijing newspaper, Wen Wei Po, which labeled its article an investigative report and included a photo of the diplomat meeting with Wong.
“The participation of the Western forces led by the U.S. has grown more obvious,” the article said. “According to sources, their meeting was related to Hong Kong’s recent events and Joshua Wong is very likely to be going to Washington to meet with American politicians to ask them to ‘sanction’ Hong Kong.”
After Beijing’s earlier accusation about a foreign “black hand” in Hong Kong’s unrest, the consulate said that the “demonstrations in Hong Kong reflect the sentiment of the people of Hong Kong and their broad concerns about the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy.”
--With assistance from Shawna Kwan.
To contact the reporters on this story: Iain Marlow in Hong Kong at imarlow1@bloomberg.net;Dandan Li in Beijing at dli395@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Magdalene Fung
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