US urges Hong Kong to commit to ‘free and fair’ Legco election in September amid coronavirus delay fears

The calls come as local media outlets reported the government may postpone the Legislative Council polls for up to a year, citing the Covid-19 pandemic
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says ‘the UK would be watching the Hong Kong Legislative Council elections in September closely’

Coronavirus Hong Kong

Stuart Lau

Published: 4:35am, 29 Jul 2020

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The United States and Australia on Tuesday urged Hong Kong to commit to a “free and fair” legislative election, while the European Union and the UK vowed to closely monitor the polls scheduled for September 6.

The calls come as several Hong Kong media outlets reported the government may postpone the Legislative Council polls for up to a year, citing the coronavirus pandemic.

The US and Australia are also teaming up in their criticism of China, taking the country to task for what they claim is aggressive behaviour throughout the Asia-Pacific and not acting quickly to contain the coronavirus.

With only just over a month before the Legco election, Hong Kong’s pan-democrats expressed worries over the reported moves of the city government, saying a postponement would be an attempt to usurp what was expected to be a big win for the camp in the vote, which happens every four years.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listen while US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper speaks during a press conference in Washington on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

In a joint statement, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and visiting Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said that the two “reiterated their support for the people of Hong Kong to be able to elect Legislative Council representatives via a genuinely free and fair election, which is credible and peaceful, on September 6”.

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, in a call to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, said “the UK would be watching the Hong Kong Legislative Council elections in September closely”, according to his office.

Also on Tuesday, the Council of the European Union, chaired by Germany and representing all 27 member states, issued a statement on Hong Kong.

‘Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam meets cabinet to discuss postponing Legco polls’

“The EU will follow closely the political situation in Hong Kong in the lead-up to the Legislative Council elections on 6 September.

“The EU considers it essential that these elections take place in an environment which remains conducive to the exercise of democratic rights and freedoms as enshrined in the Basic Law,” it said. All 27 EU countries also adopted a list of actions, as previously reported by the South China Morning Post.

It contains no measures against Beijing, but includes several actions against the Hong Kong government, such as restricting sale of products that could be used for “internal repression, the interception of internal communications or cyber-surveillance” to Hong Kong.

The EU also promised to review the implication of the national security law on asylum, migration, visas and residency.

01:27

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In Washington, the US and Australian foreign and defence ministers pledged to renew and strengthen a united front against China and what they termed Beijing’s malign behaviour in Asia and beyond.

The two sides – represented by Pompeo, Payne and their defence counterparts, America’s Mark Esper and Australia’s Linda Reynolds – accused China of violating international norms in the South China Sea and vowed to uphold freedom of navigation and the rule of the law as well as democratic freedoms in Hong Kong.

Pompeo said the US and Australia face “immediate crises” that must be dealt with simultaneously. Those include Covid-19 and “Chinese Communist Party ambitions,” he said, particularly its “malign activity in the Indo-Pacific region and indeed all around the world”.

Pompeo applauded Australia for suspending its extradition treaty with Hong Kong, something the Trump administration is also pursuing as China moves to impose curbs on dissent in the former British territory.

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Despite that common ground, Australia’s foreign minister told reporters on Tuesday that Canberra had no intention of “injuring” what she called an “important” relationship with Beijing.

“We have a strong economic engagement, other engagement, and it works in the interests of both countries,” Payne said during a briefing in Washington alongside her US counterparts.

Payne stressed that Australia would make its own decisions based on “the Australian national interest”, and added without elaboration that Canberra and Washington did not “agree on everything”.

Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said it was apparent that Canberra was uncomfortable with Washington’s recent “extreme measures” against Beijing, including closing the Chinese consulate in Houston and increasing attempts to pit the Chinese people directly against the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

In a speech last week, Pompeo said the US government must “engage and empower” the Chinese people, lambasted efforts over the past 50 years to engage the Chinese government, and called for an anti-China “new alliance of democracies”.

“There are some things the Trump administration is doing that Australia very much welcomes and wants to support,” said Glaser, pointing to consensus on matters like Hong Kong, the South China Sea and Huawei.

“But I just think the Trump administration is now on a course that I think, increasingly, if it continues other countries are just not going to stand with us,” said Glaser.

Additional reporting by Owen Churchill and Reuters

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Australia, US call for ‘free and fair’ election

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