US condemns Hong Kong bounties, passport revocations for democrats
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Ms Anna Kwok, a Hong Kong activist based in the US, has been designated by the Hong Kong police as a fugitive with a bounty offered for her arrest.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – The US State Department said that Hong Kong’s acts of offering bounties for six more pro-democracy campaigners who were deemed to have violated national security laws and the revoking of the passports
The State Department also separately condemned China for taking steps against two Canadian institutions and 20 people involved in human rights issues concerning the Uighurs and Tibet.
“We reject the Hong Kong government’s efforts to intimidate and silence individuals who choose to make the US their home,” the State Department said in a statement on Dec 26, adding that some of the targeted individuals were based in the US.
China’s foreign ministry said Hong Kong’s law enforcement actions were necessary to safeguard national sovereignty and security.
“The extraterritorial application of Hong Kong’s national security laws is fully consistent with international law and practice,” ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said told reporters at a news briefing on Dec 27.
She called the US hypocritical for “attacking” Hong Kong’s actions while “abusing the concept of national security and exercising illegal long-arm jurisdiction”.
China-imposed national security legislation
China’s office for safeguarding national security in Hong Kong said on Dec 24 it supported the actions, as the individuals had engaged in “anti-China” and destabilising acts.
Beijing on Dec 22 separately targeted Canada-based Uighur Rights Advocacy Project and the Canada-Tibet Committee by announcing measures including asset freezes and bans on entry.
Rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses of Uighurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority that numbers around 10 million in the western region of Xinjiang, including the mass use of forced labour in camps. Beijing denies any abuses.
China seized control of Tibet in 1950. International human rights groups and exiles have routinely condemned what they call China’s oppressive rule in Tibetan areas. REUTERS
