WASHINGTON: The US State Department is delaying a report to Congress assessing whether Hong Kong enjoys sufficient autonomy from China to continue receiving special treatment from the United States, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday.
Pompeo told a news conference the delay was to allow the report “to account for any additional actions that Beijing may be contemplating in the run-up” to China’s May 22 National People’s Congress “that would further undermine the people of Hong Kong’s autonomy.”
The “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act” approved by the US Congress and President Donald Trump last year requires the State Department to certify at least annually that the former British colony retains enough autonomy to justify the favorable US trading terms that have helped it maintain its position as a world financial center.
Under it, officials responsible for human rights violations in Hong Kong could also be subject to sanctions, including visa bans and asset freezes.
China said it opposed any US interference in its domestic affairs. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the comments Thursday at a daily press briefing.
Hong Kong was rocked in 2019 by months of massive, and sometimes violent, political protests over a now-withdrawn extradition bill that would have allowed people to be sent to mainland China for trial and calls for greater democracy.
China’s Hong Kong affairs office warned earlier on Wednesday that the city will never be calm unless “black-clad violent protesters” were all removed, describing them as a “political virus” seeking independence from Beijing.
Riot police dispersed a crowd of 300 pro-democracy activists late last month, the first sizable protest since the government imposed a ban on public meetings at the end of March to curb coronavirus infections.
The arrests of 15 activists in April, including veteran politicians, a publishing tycoon and senior barristers, thrust the protest movement back into the spotlight and drew condemnation from Washington and international rights groups.
Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997, and the territory was promised a “high degree of autonomy” for 50 years, something that has formed the basis of the territory’s special status under US law.
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Pompeo delays Hong Kong report to see if China acts to ‘further undermine’ autonomy
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Pompeo delays Hong Kong report to see if China acts to ‘further undermine’ autonomy
- China opposes any US interference in its domestic affairs
- Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997
Zelensky says meeting with Trump to happen ‘in the near future’
KYIV: A meeting with US President Donald Trump will happen “in the near future,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday, signaling progress in talks to end the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.
“We are not losing a single day. We have agreed on a meeting at the highest level – with President Trump in the near future,” Zelensky wrote on X.
“A lot can be decided before the New Year,” he added.
Zelensky’s announcement came after he said Thursday he had a “good conversation” with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Trump has unleashed an extensive diplomatic push to end the war, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.
Zelensky said Tuesday he would be willing to withdraw troops from the country’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if Moscow also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.
Though Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there had been “slow but steady progress” in the peace talks, Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized.
In fact, Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas — an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70 percent of Donetsk — the two areas that make up the Donbas.
On the ground, Russian drone attacks on the city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs overnight into Friday left part of the city without power.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it struck a major Russian oil refinery Thursday using British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.
Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region. “Multiple explosions were recorded. The target was hit,” it wrote on Telegram.
Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said a firefighter was wounded when extinguishing the fire.
Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”
“We are not losing a single day. We have agreed on a meeting at the highest level – with President Trump in the near future,” Zelensky wrote on X.
“A lot can be decided before the New Year,” he added.
Zelensky’s announcement came after he said Thursday he had a “good conversation” with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Trump has unleashed an extensive diplomatic push to end the war, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.
Zelensky said Tuesday he would be willing to withdraw troops from the country’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if Moscow also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.
Though Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there had been “slow but steady progress” in the peace talks, Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized.
In fact, Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas — an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70 percent of Donetsk — the two areas that make up the Donbas.
On the ground, Russian drone attacks on the city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs overnight into Friday left part of the city without power.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it struck a major Russian oil refinery Thursday using British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.
Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region. “Multiple explosions were recorded. The target was hit,” it wrote on Telegram.
Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said a firefighter was wounded when extinguishing the fire.
Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”
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