Hong Kong bookseller says he asked visiting US officials to help activists in Taiwan

Name: High-level US State Department official arrives in Taiwan
Uploaded: 2020-09-23T01:00:16.000Z
Description: High-level US State Department official arrives in Taiwan

Lam Wing-kee told delegation led by undersecretary of state Keith Krach that Hongkongers who had fled to the island were struggling to find work

He says he suggested they could relocate to the United States instead

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Lawrence Chung

Published: 9:00am, 23 Sep 2020Updated: 9:00am, 23 Sep 2020

A Hong Kong bookseller who fled to Taiwan says he has called on the US to allow activists from the city to relocate to the United States.

Lam Wing-kee said he made the proposal in a meeting in Taipei with US officials led by Keith Krach, undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, who expressed concern about human rights and other issues related to Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet.

“I told them that a number of Hongkongers who had fled to Taiwan were having difficulty finding jobs in Taiwan and hoped to go to the US instead,” Lam said on Tuesday.

Lam met Krach on Friday, along with Robert Destro, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour, Randall Schriver, former assistant secretary of defence for Indo-Pacific security affairs, and Kelley Currie, ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues.

Krach is the most senior State Department official to have visited Taiwan. His three-day trip last week infuriated Beijing, which has warned Washington against having official exchanges with the self-ruled island that it considers to be part of its territory.

High-level US State Department official arrives in Taiwan

Lam said some Hong Kong activists who had fled to Taiwan saw the US as a better option because they were struggling to meet tough requirements for residency on the island.