US To Restrict Visas For Hong Kong Officials

The United States has announced it recent plans to restrict Visa on Hong Kong officials responsible for cracking down on rights in the Chinese city.

In a statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that over the past year, Beijing has “continued to take actions against Hong Kong’s promised high degree of autonomy, democratic institutions, and rights and freedoms.”

This crackdown, he said, includes the recent passage of “Article 23,” a national security law targeting treason, insurrection, espionage and theft of state secrets, among other crimes.

In response to “intensifying repression” and restrictions on “civil society, media, and dissenting voices,” the State Department “is taking steps to impose new visa restrictions on multiple Hong Kong officials,” the statement added.

Blinken did not highlist those that will be affected by the Visas restrictions.
His announcement comes after Washington’s annual review of Hong Kong’s autonomy, a status promised by Beijing when Britain handed over the city in 1997.

“This year, I have again certified that Hong Kong does not warrant treatment under U.S. laws in the same manner as the laws were applied to Hong Kong before July 1, 1997,” Blinken said.

Washington has previously imposed visa restrictions and sanctions on Hong Kong officials it accuses of eroding the rights and freedoms that differentiate the city from the rest of China.

AFP