Americans have ‘thin’ awareness of situation in Hong Kong, former consul general says
- US media focusing on national security trials and political changes with very little reporting about other aspects of society and economy, Kurt Tong says
- Tong also blames US State Department for putting out ‘inaccurate description’ of risks of travelling to city, which has led business executives to ask if it’s safe place
Former US envoy to Hong Kong Kurt Tong has said Americans’ awareness of the actual situation in the city remains “thin” due to a lack of understanding, with some business executives even asking him about the safety of visiting.
But he cautioned that more American businesses might quit the financial hub if the national security imperatives “get in the way” of the free flow of information or internet business.
Tong, who was the United States consul general in Hong Kong from 2016 to 2019, is now a managing partner at the Washington-based consulting firm The Asia Group.
He told a lunch held in Hong Kong on Tuesday that many Americans had been saying “sorry” to him after they learned he used to live in the city.
“I end up spending usually longer than the person that made that comment wanted to hear, telling them about the actual situation in Hong Kong, the pros and the cons, the complexity of it all, how it fits into US-China relations, et cetera,” he said. “But that awareness is very, very, very thin.”