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A team from the European External Action Service held talks with Hong Kong officials on Thursday. Photo: Getty

Hong Kong can rely on European Union’s support in ‘difficult times’

  • Officials representing the EU on diplomatic and foreign affairs tell local politicians ‘Hong Kong can count on the EU’ hours after US president signs act allowing sanctions against city’s government
  • Group discusses ‘various matters of mutual interest, including the latest developments’ during visit to city
Hong Kong can rely on the support of the European Union in troubled times, a visiting EU delegation to the city said on Thursday, after talks with local politicians.

“True friends stand by each other at difficult times, and Hong Kong can count on the EU in this regard,” Gunnar Wiegand, managing director for Asia and the Pacific at the European External Action Service (EEAS) said in a statement on Thursday afternoon.

The team from the EEAS, which represents the EU on diplomatic and foreign affairs, was visiting Hong Kong for their annual “structured dialogue”, which the EU said earlier was intended to promote “even closer EU-Hong Kong cooperation”.

Weigand co-chaired the meeting with Hong Kong deputy commerce secretary Vivian Sum Fong-kwang.

The EU has expressed repeated concerns about the unrest in Hong Kong. Photo: Sam Tsang

During their talks, the two sides exchanged views on “various matters of mutual interest, including [the] latest developments”, the statement said.

The visit came amid the long-running protests in Hong Kong and after repeated statements from Brussels on the city’s need to uphold the rule of law and maintain its autonomy.
During the recent siege of Polytechnic University, the EEAS said that the actions of Hong Kong’s police must “remain strictly appropriate, while fundamental freedoms, including the right of peaceful assembly of Hongkongers, must be upheld”.

In July, the European Parliament passed a resolution denouncing violence by police officers against the protesters. It also called on the EEAS to “raise all these concerns and to ensure a dialogue” in its interactions with governments in Beijing and Hong Kong.

The European Parliament passed a resolution in July denouncing police violence against protesters in Hong Kong. Photo: Felix Wong

Wiegand did not give details of Thursday’s talks, saying only that they “helped review our extensive cooperation in many fields”.

“Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, its rule of law and fundamental rights and freedoms as enshrined in the ‘one country, two systems’ principle are fundamental for our close economies and people-to-people ties,” he said.

Sum said that “despite recent social incidents, Hong Kong’s institutional strengths and core competencies remain strong and are well recognised by many international institutions”.

The EU was Hong Kong’s third-largest trading partner last year, according to the EEAS statement.

The dialogue came after US President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act into law, which could have implications for the city’s special trading status with America if lawmakers in Washington feel its autonomy has been eroded.

Beijing has criticised both Brussels and Washington for what it describes as interference in China’s internal affairs.

On Thursday, China’s foreign ministry said Trump’s signing of the democracy act “severely infringed on Hong Kong affairs, seriously interfered in China’s internal politics, and gravely violated international laws and the basic principles of international relations”.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: EU pledges its support for city ‘in tough times’
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