U.S., Australian, Canadian and British diplomats issued a joint statement on Sunday condemning the detention of more than 50 Hong Kong activists, calling for evidence that the city’s new strict national security law is being used to target dissidents.
Hong Kong officials announced about 55 arrests last week, the largest mass arrest since China imposed the new national security edict in 2020, The Associated Press reported. All but three were released on bail.
Most of the detainees attended an informal primary for a postponed legislative election, which Hong Kong authorities said was a violation of the law.
“It is clear that the National Security Act is being used to eliminate dissent and opposing political opposition,” the joint statement from the US secretary of state reads. Mike Pompeo
Mike Pompeo Pompeo, Cruz, and other Trump allies condemn Twitter’s ban on President Sanders, who defends pressure to accuse Trump: The insurrection will not be tolerated. Pompeo meets with Biden for state as part of the transition. MORE, Australian Foreign Secretary Marise Payne, British Secretary of State Dominic Raab and Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne. “We call on the Hong Kong and Chinese central authorities to respect the legally guaranteed rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong without fear of arrest and detention.”
Pompeo announced separately this weekend that the United States will remove diplomatic restrictions on relations with Taiwan, previously in force as a concession to Beijing, which considers the territory of the Chinese island.
Hong Kong officials have accused diplomats of improper interference in sovereign affairs, saying: “We are horrified by the remarks made by some overseas government officials who seemed to suggest that people with certain political beliefs should be immune to legal sanctions. “.
Western diplomats have called the national security law one of the Chinese government’s most explicit moves to erode Hong Kong’s autonomy since the British government handed over control in 1997 under a “one nation, two systems” rule. It followed protests that lasted much of 2019 for a then-withdrawn bill that would have allowed the extradition of suspects to China.