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Democratic and Republican lawmakers are urging the State Department to bar Hong Kong’s chief executive from visiting San Francisco for November’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting to be hosted by the United States.
Hong Kong is an Apec member economy, but John Lee Ka-chiu was placed under US sanctions in 2020 when he was the city’s security secretary over his role in implementing the national security law.
In its designation of Lee at the time, the US Treasury Department said he had been involved in “coercing, arresting, detaining or imprisoning” people who protested against the law.
“We are dismayed to learn the Biden administration plans to waive the sanctions on Chief Executive Lee and allow him into the United States to attend the Apec meeting,” Republican senator Marco Rubio said in a letter to the State Department co-signed by Democratic senator Jeff Merkley and representative Jim McGovern and Republican representative Chris Smith.
But a deputy secretary of state, Wendy Sherman, had said in a written response to questions following February 9 testimony to the Senate foreign relations committee that her department intended to welcome Lee for Apec.
“However, an invitation to Apec does not absolve individuals of their role in undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy and eroding protected rights and freedoms,” she added.
The department has now said invitations “have not been finalised.”
US citizens or entities are generally barred from dealing with people on Washington’s specially designated nationals list, making entry into the country difficult unless a waiver is given.
Lee has said the United States has an obligation to invite Hong Kong to the 21-member meeting as Apec “doesn’t belong to any country or economy.”
But he did not say if he intended to go to the meeting.
Frances Hui, based in Washington for the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, said allowing Lee to visit the United States would send a signal to Beijing and others that “committing abuses” carry little or no cost.
But Lau Siu-kai, a consultant to the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said the United States might not anyway invite Lee as President Joe Biden is seeking a second term and will not risk upsetting politicians.
And if Lee went to San Francisco, Lau added, “he will face criticism he has trampled on human rights and democracy, which will make his trip difficult.”
Also, Lau said: “If the US insists on imposing sanctions on Lee and only gives him ad hoc exemption the Hong Kong and central governments may not accept it.
“Apec is only a discussion platform for state leaders and is more symbolic than practical.”
The Chief Executive’s Office said Lee has led Hong Kong in “firmly fulfilling its responsibility to safeguard national security with veracity, integrity and confidence.
“It is a matter of course for government officials of any country to safeguard the national security of their own country.”
Elsewhere, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau Ying-wah said at a ministerial council meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris that the world must fight against “any form of protectionism” after the pandemic.
“Trade is not and should never be seen as a ‘zero-sum’ game,” he said.
“We must continue to provide a free, fair, open, nondiscriminatory, transparent and predictable environment for trade and investment to thrive.”
Category: Hong Kong
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