China’s top diplomat in Hong Kong meets US envoy, condemns ‘negative remarks’ about city
Hong Kong Free Press
China’s top diplomat in Hong Kong has met the US Consul-General Gregory May to protest against “negative remarks,” after May said the city’s One Country, Two Systems governing principle now only survived in economic issues.
Cui Jianchun, the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the HKSAR, met May on Wednesday, according to a statement from Cui’s Office.
Cui “solemnly” delivered a message protesting “negative remarks” about Hong Kong and urged the US to follow the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries in San Francisco during their summit last November. The statement did not specify May’s remarks.
May earlier came in for criticism over an interview with US media outlet CBS last Tuesday, in which he said Hong Kong had “fundamentally changed.”
May said “people in Hong Kong are not free to criticise the government like they used to be able to” and that a newly enacted national security law had brought “a massive chilling effect” to the city. The One Country, Two Systems arrangement now only existed in economic affairs, the envoy said.
The spokesperson of the Commissioner’s Office slammed the US envoy’s “arbitrary comments” in a statement on the same day the report was published.
It said he “should adhere to the basic professional ethics and code of conduct of consular officials, and do more practical things to promote Hong Kong-US cooperation, rather than fabricating lies and attacking Hong Kong.”
Separately, Hong Kong’s government in a statement condemned the “absurd and unfounded remarks.”
In his meeting on Wednesday Cui cited decisions of the recent Third Plenary Session of the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Central Committee, which stated that Hong Kong should “leverage the advantages of One Country, Two Systems [and] consolidate and enhance Hong Kong’s status as an international financial, shipping and trade centre.”
‘Strong differences’
The US envoy has faced repeated criticism from the Chinese authorities since he took up his post in September 2022.
In February 2023 Liu Guangyuan, Cui’s predecessor, summoned the US consul-general to protest against his “inappropriate” remarks after May said his initial impressions of Hong Kong included concerns for the rule of law after the enactment of a Beijing-imposed national security law, as well as worries about academic freedom and the changing media landscape.
In May, the Commissioner’s Office criticised May for “unfounded comments” after the US envoy called for the release of media mogul Jimmy Lai and other detained activists.
In late June, the US envoy said in a speech at an Independence Day Reception that while the economies and people of the US and China were interconnnected, Washington continues “to have strong differences with leaders of both the Hong Kong SAR and mainland China” in the areas of human rights, values, and democracy.
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