Hong Kong security law arrests, elections slammed in US State Department report
- City authorities are criticised for using the national security law to arrest and detain Hongkongers ‘for nonviolent political expression or activities’
- Beijing ‘played an unprecedented role in directing the outcome of the Hong Kong elections’, says the State Department’s annual report
The central Chinese government played an “unprecedented role” over the past year in efforts to direct the outcome of elections in Hong Kong, the US State Department said on Thursday.
Across the board, the findings paint a bleak picture of deteriorating liberties in Hong Kong politics, media and civil society, leading Secretary of State Antony Blinken to reaffirm Washington’s position that Hong Kong “does not warrant” special US treatment distinguishing it from the rest of China.
“Over the past year, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has continued to dismantle Hong Kong’s democratic institutions, placed unprecedented pressure on the judiciary and stifled academic, cultural and press freedoms,” Blinken said.
Leading the State Department’s litany of concerns were measures taken by Beijing in March last year to overhaul Hong Kong’s electoral system, expanding the powerful Election Committee to include a new pro-establishment sector and giving the body new authorities to decide who can run for seats in the Legislative Council (Legco).