Biden backs Hong Kong democracy in activist meeting
US vice-president and pan-democrats in White House meeting sure to rile Beijing
Two senior pan-democrats told US Vice-President Joe Biden on Friday that Beijing has been "tightening its controls" over Hong Kong and "voiced fear that the communist rulers would only allow handpicked candidates" to run in the 2017 chief executive election.
Anson Chan Fang On-sang, the former chief secretary and the convenor of pro-democracy group Hong Kong 2020, and Martin Lee Chu-ming, founding chairman of Hong Kong's Democratic Party, are halfway through a two-week visit to the United States and Canada.
Their meeting with Biden came a day after they met the Democratic Party leader of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, in Washington, where they are believed to have discussed Hong Kong's political development.
The White House said Biden "stopped by for talks" and "underscored [Washington's] long-standing support for democracy in Hong Kong and for the city's high degree of autonomy under the 'one country, two systems' framework".
Taiwan's Central News Agency reported that Chan and Lee were meeting "National Security Council officials" when Biden joined them.
During the 20-minute meeting with the vice-president, Chan and Lee voiced concern over freedom of the press, pointing to the knife attack on former Ming Pao editor-in-chief Kevin Lau Chun-to and charging that Beijing was pressuring advertisers to shun critical media.