Pompeo criticises HSBC for 'corporate kowtow' to Beijing
11 June, 2020
US Secretary of Status Mike Pompeo on Tuesday (Jun 9) chided British bank HSBC for backing moves by China to get rid of Hong Kong's autonomy, saying such "corporate kowtows" got little in return from Beijing.
Pompeo said america stood ready to help Britain with alternatives after Beijing reportedly threatened to punish HSBC and break commitments to build nuclear ability plants in the country unless it allowed China's Huawei Technologies to build its 5G network.
"AMERICA stands with this allies and partners against the Chinese Communist Party’s coercive bullying tactics," Pompeo said in a statement, his latest swipe at China's ruling party.
Pompeo said the CCP’s "browbeating" of HSBC "should serve as a cautionary tale" and described the bank’s Asia-Pacific CEO, Peter Wong, signing a good petition supporting Beijing’s plans to impose new security legislation on Hong Kong
"That express of fealty seems to have earned HSBC little respect found in Beijing, which continues to use the bank’s business found in China while political leverage against London," he said.
China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters throughout a daily briefing on Wednesday that Beijing hopes america will stop working with Hong Kong to stoke fires and interfere found in China's affairs.
US-China ties possess deteriorated rapidly since the start of year over the coronavirus pandemic and Hong Kong. Washington views Huawei as an extension of the Chinese authorities and urges European allies to exclude it from mobile networks.
Pompeo said Australia, Denmark, "and other free of charge nations" had faced pressure from Beijing and it showed so why countries had a need to avoid monetary overreliance on China and to safeguard their critical infrastructure from CCP influence.
"Free nations deal in true friendship and desire mutual prosperity, not really political and corporate kowtows," he said.
Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Saturday that HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker had warned Britain against a good ban on networking equipment created by Huawei, claiming the lender could face reprisals found in China.
Senior British and US politicians criticised HSBC and Standard Chartered the other day after they both backed the national security law for Hong Kong.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com