Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam compares her US ban with city’s visa rejection of Australian journalist, says governments have immigration autonomy
- Just a day earlier, the Chinese foreign ministry also stressed that city has a right to decide who gets visas
- Decision not to renew visa of Economist journalist Sue-lin Wong underscores rising concerns about press freedom, Foreign Correspondents’ Club says
Hong Kong’s leader has compared a US move to ban her from American soil with the visa rejection of an Australian journalist in the city, stressing each government’s autonomy over immigration rules.
The comments by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor centred on the Immigration Department’s recent rejection of a visa renewal bid by journalist Sue-lin Wong, a China correspondent with The Economist. The move had drawn criticism, including from the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC), which said the issue underscored rising concerns about press freedom in the city.
Referring to her own experience, Lam said: “The issue of visas is the autonomy or discretion of any government. For example, standing here as the chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, I have been denied a visa into the United States of America.
“Although I would dispute that, that was the autonomy and the discretion of the US government. It is always the discretion of the director of immigration to decide on the circumstances of each case, whether they will grant or extend a visa, or impose certain conditions.”
Without referring to the specific incident, Lam also stressed foreign journalists in Hong Kong should observe the Beijing-imposed national security law, even as she sought to provide reassurance of the city’s status as a regional hub for international media.