Pompeo warns China over interference with US journalists in Hong Kong
18 May, 2020
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday (May 17) said it had come to his attention that the Chinese government had threatened to hinder the work folks journalists in Hong Kong, and said any decision impinging on Hong Kong's autonomy could affect the united states assessment of Hong Kong's status.
"These journalists are members of a free of charge press, not propaganda cadres, and their valuable reporting informs Chinese citizens and the world," Pompeo said in a statement.
Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997, and the territory was promised a "high amount of autonomy" for 50 years, a thing that has formed the basis of the territory's special status under US law, which includes helped it thrive as a global financial center.
Pompeo announced on May 6 that the State Department was delaying a written report to Congress assessing whether Hong Kong enjoyed satisfactory autonomy from China to keep getting special treatment from the United States.
He said at the time the delay was to permit the report to account for any actions Beijing might contemplate in the run-up to China's May 22 National People's Congress.
Tensions between Washington and Beijing have spiked in recent weeks, as Pompeo and President Donald Trump have complained about China's early handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
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