US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said a report on Hong Kong’s autonomy that could trigger sanctions will be postponed until after the Chinese government’s annual legislative session this month in order to take into account what Beijing says about the semi-autonomous city during the meeting.
Pompeo, who did not announce a new date, said the delay was due to China’s plans to convene its top legislature on May 22. “We’re delaying our report to Congress that will assess Hong Kong’s autonomy to 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.
Under new reporting requirements stipulated by the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, Pompeo must certify an annual assessment of Hong Kong’s autonomy. Thus, US State Department is legally required to submit a review of whether China is respecting the former British colony’s autonomy and if the financial hub still deserves preferential trading privileges with the United States by late May. The report must be distributed to the foreign affairs committees of the Senate and House, and to several other congressional committees within 180 days of the act’s passage.
The Bill enjoyed overwhelming support from Congress and Trump signed it reluctantly in November after hearing angry accusations from China that the United States was interfering in its internal matters. Lawmakers across party lines have urged the Trump administration to move forward and provide an “accurate” assessment of the situation in Hong Kong, which was rocked by months of pro-democracy demonstrations last year.
“It is critical that the United States use the available tools under the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act,” said a recent letter to Pompeo by a group of lawmakers that included Senator Marco Rubio, a Trump ally, and Representative Eliot Engel, the Democratic head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Protests that dwindled during the coronavirus pandemic have flared up again in recent weeks. Subsequently, 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. US-China relations have since deteriorated significantly, with Pompeo and the Trump administration blaming China for the pandemic that has killed more than 250,000 people worldwide, more than a quarter of them in the United States.
Image Source: The Boston Globe
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Read more at: https://www.bloombergquint.com/global-economics/u-s-delays-annual-report-on-hong-kong-s-autonomy-pompeo-says
Copyright © BloombergQuint
Read more at: https://www.bloombergquint.com/global-economics/u-s-delays-annual-report-on-hong-kong-s-autonomy-pompeo-says
Copyright © BloombergQuint