China ‘to avoid Trump attempt to play Hong Kong protest card’ at G20 talks with Xi Jinping
- A meeting between the two leaders has yet to be confirmed
- British Prime Minister Theresa May will raise concerns about the extradition bill in a meeting with Chinese Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua
The mass protests in Hong Kong might have given US President Donald Trump unexpected leverage if he meets his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Japan next week, but Beijing will try to prevent the controversy from affecting the broader China-US relationship, Chinese analysts said.
The protests over Hong Kong’s extradition bill have rocked the city over the past two weeks, adding another layer of uncertainty to an expected high-stakes meeting between the two leaders at the G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka.
The issue will also be raised when British Prime Minister Theresa May meets Chinese Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua, who is on a visit to London to boost economic and financial cooperation.
Britain viewed the protests in its former colony as a clear sign of local opposition to the proposal that Hong Kong courts could extradite people to mainland China, a spokesman for May said.
“It’s vital that extradition arrangements in Hong Kong are in line with the rights and freedoms set down in the Sino-British Joint Declaration,” the spokesman said, referring to a document signed in 1984 setting out the terms of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty.
On Monday, the Chinese foreign ministry offered a rare conciliatory response to international concerns about the Hong Kong bill.
