US calls Beijing a ‘thuggish regime’ for ‘harassing’ American diplomat over Hong Kong meeting with Joshua Wong
- State Department accuses Chinese government of ‘leaking’ official’s personal details, including photograph and names of children
- China has demanded that US diplomats ‘stop interfering’ in city’s affairs after reported meeting with local democracy activists
The United States on Thursday accused the Chinese government of being behind the leak of a Hong Kong-based US diplomat’s personal information, after a pro-Beijing newspaper disclosed details of the official’s personal life.
“I don’t think that leaking an American diplomat’s private information, pictures, names of their children, I don’t think that is a formal protest, that is what a thuggish regime would do,” US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said at a news briefing in Washington.
Her remarks came after the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong lodged a formal complaint with the US consulate general over a meeting between US diplomat Julie Eadeh and pro-democracy activists in the city.
After the meeting, Hong Kong’s Ta Kung Pao newspaper published an article disclosing personal details about her, including the names of her children.
Leaking such information was “not how a responsible nation would behave,” said Ortagus, who later confirmed that it was the US government’s position that the Chinese government was directly behind the leak.