The US State Department has amended part of a statement to Congress saying Washington would invite the chief executive of Hong Kong, which faces US sanctions, to a summit in November after lawmakers urged that he be barred from entering the country.
The United States will host this year’s meeting in San Francisco of leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) group, of which Hong Kong is a member economy. But senior Hong Kong official John Lee was sanctioned by the United States in 2020 for his role in implementing what Washington considers Hong Kong’s “draconian” national security law.
Last week, a group of lawmakers sent a letter to the department urging it to bar Lee from the US, citing comments by Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a written response to questions the US reads for Apec.
“An incorrect version of this response was inadvertently transmitted to Congress. The Department regrets the error,” a State Department spokesperson said.
“No decisions have been made on invitations,” the official said, adding that the US has made it clear that Apec’s participation must be in accordance with US laws and regulations, “including with respect to to sanctions.”
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmed Tuesday that it had received the corrected response, which said the United States “has not committed to the invitations.”
The four legislators who sent the letter, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern and Republican Rep. Chris Smith, said they welcomed further consultation with the department on the issue, but noted that the amended language did not he was clear on the status of any eventual invitation.
“Our bipartisan letter makes clear our position that inviting Lee to Apec is wrong because he is complicit in human rights abuses and because such an invitation recognizes Hong Kong as a separate economy from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), when it fact, and under US law, it is not,” they said in a statement Tuesday.
China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that the US has a responsibility to “ensure smooth participation” of all representatives of Apec members, and that it believed the US would “accomplish its commitments.”
https://www.reuters.com/world/state-department-amends-comment-apec-invitation-hong-kongs-leader-2023-06-13/
Category: Hong Kong
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