Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday officially declared that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China, days after Beijing moved to impose new national security legislation on the territory.
“Beijing’s disastrous decision is only the latest in a series of actions that fundamentally undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms and China’s own promises to the Hong Kong people under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a U.N.-filed international treaty,” Pompeo said in a statement.
Chinese government officials announced that the National People’s Congress (NPC) will review legislation that would criminalize anti-government movements. Pro-democracy advocates say that such a move goes against the “one country, two systems” framework that promises freedoms to residents in Hong Kong not available to Chinese citizens in the mainland.
The State Department is required to assess the territory’s autonomy from China, and that on Wednesday Pompeo certified to Congress that Hong Kong “does not continue to warrant treatment under United States laws in the same manner as U.S. laws were applied to Hong Kong before July 1997.”
“No reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground,” he said.
Pompeo later tweeted that “Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China, given facts on the ground.”
WIBC host Tony Katz spoke with Morgan Ortagus from the State Department Thursday about the latest developments. Click below to listen in full.
