City Beat | Just how ‘constructive’ were China-US talks and what does it mean for Hong Kong?
- While Beijing’s post-meeting statement focused largely on territorial issues, neither the city nor its looming security law appeared in US’ follow-up remarks
- But as bilateral ties between the countries deteriorate, Hong Kong has found itself unequivocally dragged into the process
Seven hours of talking followed by a cordial dinner, but with no consensus. Then, a brief statement from each side offering different accounts at cross purposes.
What kind of meeting was it? Beijing called it “constructive”; but for the US, it was merely “to exchange views”.
That was what happened in Hawaii last week when US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, for talks held with much anticipation but no expectations.
According to its statement, China primarily focused on territorial issues such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang. The message was loud and clear: there would be no compromise over any of these issues, though certain others could be negotiable.
These were all omitted in the US statement. Instead, it highlighted how Pompeo stressed the importance of “fully reciprocal dealings between the two nations across commercial, security and diplomatic interactions”, plus the need for full transparency and information sharing to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
The huge gap was all too obvious. “Constructive” in official jargon merely meant “nothing achieved or agreed, but not yet a complete relationship break-up”.
Such subtlety, however, led to open interpretation, especially over the question of Hong Kong, a city at a critical juncture, with Beijing set to impose a tailor-made national security law banning secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with external forces. Despite Washington’s threat of sanctions to oppose this law, the fact that Hong Kong was not mentioned by the US after the Hawaii meeting must have been music to Beijing’s ears, in a sense.
