Mike Pompeo says US treatment of Hong Kong depends on how China does

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that America’s treatment of Hong Kong will depend on how Chinese Community Party witnesses the former British colony. While delivering his keynote address at Copenhagen Democracy Summit 2020 on June 20, Pompeo has clarified that the US will treat Hong Kong as a Chinese city instead of an autonomous one and US will “move away” from any separate agreements with the city. This came after China approved the draft of national security bill on the city that according to critics including America, threatens the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ rule that Hong Kong came under China’s leadership back in 1997. 

“To the extent that the Chinese Communist Party treats Hong Kong as it does Shenzhen and Shanghai, we will treat them the same,” US Secretary of State.

He added, “Any agreements that are unique between the United States and Hong Kong, separate and different to those we have with Beijing, we will move away from every one of those.”

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US will ‘closely monitor’ Hong Kong elections

US Secretary of State also said that the upcoming elections in the city in September would further clarify what are China’s plans with regards to Hong Kong’s autonomous nature. In a nearly 10-minute-long address, Pompeo mentioned that the US government is currently speculating with regards to whom shall they hold responsible for the suppression of freedom in Hong Kong where the anti-government demonstrators recently marked the one-year anniversary of pro-democracy protests. 

After the Chinese Communist Party had announced the bill regarding the city, US President Donald Trump had even removed Hong Kong’s special status for trade. Even though Pompeo did not mention about what drastic measures the White House would take with respect to the former British colony, but stressed that the US would be monitoring the elections in Hong Kong “very closely”. 

Mike Pompeo said, “I think that will tell us everything we need to know about the Chinese Communist Party’s intentions with respect to freedom in Hong Kong."

“That’s not that far off,” he said. “We should all watch very closely whether those elections are permitted to take place in a free and fair fashion," he added.

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Image: AP