Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has issued a warning to China over its alleged threat to interfere with US journalists reporting from Hong Kong, cautioning that any efforts to hinder their work could damage diplomatic relations.
“It has recently come to my attention that the Chinese government has threatened to interfere with the work of American journalists in Hong Kong. These journalists are members of a free press, not propaganda cadres, and their valuable reporting informs Chinese citizens and the world,” Pompeo said in a statement Sunday.
The nation’s top diplomat then warned that any decision by the Chinese Communist Party to impinge on Hong Kong’s autonomy would inevitably impact the US’ assessment of the country’s status, likely with regard to the territories of Hong Kong and Macau.
“Any decision impinging on Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms as guaranteed under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law would inevitably impact our assessment of One Country, Two Systems and the status of the territory,” he said without offering more specifics.
Last year, pro-democracy protests took over the city of Hong Kong for nearly a year and left the region in a tense power struggle with the Chinese Communist Party.
Demonstrations were slowed down by the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the movement indoors. Since then, with more in the country going outside again, the protests have started up again, leading to numerous high-profile arrests.
Pompeo’s statement comes as relations between the two countries continue to deteriorate over the coronavirus pandemic. Beijing has been engaged for months in a global smear campaign against President Trump, the secretary of state and any other international figures who criticize the Communist regime’s handling of the novel virus.
In March, Beijing revoked the press credentials of US reporters working for the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, calling it retaliation for American restrictions placed on Chinese journalists.
The government also ordered those newspapers, along with Voice of America and Time magazine, to turn over detailed private documents on staffing, finances and other assets in China.
The Foreign Ministry said at the time the move was specifically a response to the US decision to cut the number of Chinese nationals allowed to work for Chinese state-run media on US soil.
Pompeo called the decision “unfortunate” at the time, saying, “I regret China’s decision today to further foreclose the world’s ability to conduct the free press operations that, frankly, would be really good for the Chinese people in these incredibly challenging global times, where more information, more transparency are what will save lives.”