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US Senator Rick Scott accuses Hong Kong chief Carrie Lam of being Beijing’s puppet
- Republican from Florida says city’s leader is ‘just another pawn in communist dictator Xi [Jinping]’s game of global domination’
- Lam’s inaction on protesters’ concerns ‘demonstrates how little she values the rights of the people of Hong Kong’, he says
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A United States senator has accused embattled Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor of being a “puppet” of Beijing who does not value the rights of the people in the city she governs.
Rick Scott, a Republican who represents Florida beside Marco Rubio, made the accusation after receiving a letter from Lam, in which she said she was “deeply worried” about the passage of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. The pair also met recently in Hong Kong.
“On my trip to Hong Kong, I met with Chief Executive Carrie Lam and establishment leaders, who are nothing more than puppets for Beijing and [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping],” Scott said in a statement on Friday.
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“Chief Executive Lam wouldn’t even answer basic questions about the rights of her people. I received a follow-up letter today from Chief Executive Lam filled with more empty words.”
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Scott’s statement, which included a copy of the letter, came as Hong Kong is about to enter its 18th week of unrest triggered by a now-shelved bill that would allow the extradition of criminal suspects to mainland China. The protests have become increasingly violent, and on Tuesday a police officer fired a live round into the chest of 18-year-old high school student Tsang Chi-kin.
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