US CURBS VISAS FOR CHINESE OFFICIALS OVER HONG KONG
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday that Washington was imposing visa restrictions on Chinese officials responsible for restricting freedoms in Hong Kong, but he did not name any of those targeted.
The move comes ahead of a three-day meeting of China’s parliament from Sunday expected to enact new national security legislation for Hong Kong that has alarmed foreign governments and democracy activists.
The US visa restrictions apply to “current and former” Chinese Communist Party officials “believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy”, he said.
In May, President Donald Trump responded to Chinese plans by saying he was starting a process to eliminate special economic treatment that has allowed Hong Kong to remain a global financial centre since its 1997 handover by Britain.
Pompeo’s announcement represents the first concrete US step in response to China’s moves, but Bonnie Glaser, an Asia expert at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, said visa curbs were largely symbolic and the fact that no names were given could lessen their impact.
A State Department spokeswoman said relatives of designees could also be barred. A Bloomberg columnist quoted a department official as saying the number of officials targeted was “in the single digits”.
Chinese embassy spokeswoman Fang Hong said China “opposes the US side’s wrongful decisions”, and added that China’s legislation targeted only “a very narrow category of acts that seriously jeopardise national security”. “We urge the US to immediately correct its mistakes, withdraw the decisions and stop interfering in China’s domestic affairs,” she said.
Wall Street’s major indexes tumbled on Friday after a Wall Street Journal article said US “meddling” on issues like Hong Kong and Taiwan could jeopardise Chinese purchases under a Phase 1 trade deal Trump agreed with China in January, spooking investors already worried about a surge in coronavirus cases.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong police on Saturday denied permission for an annual march in the former British colony on July 1 to mark the anniversary of the city’s 1997 return to China, the organiser and the police said in separate statement citing current rules limiting gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic.