Pentagon official says US is concerned by ‘heavier hand Beijing has taken’ in Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s long-held reputation as one of Asia-Pacific’s best, most well-regulated police, judicial and administrative systems is under threat as Beijing takes an increasingly aggressive and intrusive stance, a senior Pentagon official said on Tuesday.

While the US is concerned with some of the increasingly violent tactics adopted by protesters in the financial capital, “in general, we are concerned about the heavier hand that Beijing has taken and the Hong Kong authorities have taken with what we regard as legitimate activities on the part of the people of Hong Kong”, said Randall Schriver, the assistant secretary of defence for Indo-Pacific security affairs.

Schriver, speaking at a China Defence and Security conference in Washington organised by the Jamestown Foundation, cited a worrisome trend toward “less autonomy, more influence from Beijing” and “an erosion of the things that were promised to the people of Hong Kong”.

The range of topics at the Jamestown conference reflected Washington’s increasingly suspicious view of Beijing as the world’s two largest economies face off in areas ranging from trade and security to education, investment and visa policy. Panels at the forum on Tuesday discussed China’s international propaganda efforts and political interference, its military build-up and its crackdowns in Xinjiang and Tibet.

Schriver also urged Beijing to pressure Pyongyang into being more responsive in US-North Korean talks; he chided China for slippage in its sanctions enforcement, particularly that involving ship-to-ship transfers of banned North Korean goods in Chinese waters.