Beijing’s top diplomat in HK sets out red lines for new US Consul General | Politics News

China advised the US envoy to abide by ‘basic norms governing worldwide relations’, together with noninterference.

America has dismissed a warning issued by Beijing’s high diplomat in Hong Kong to Washington’s new Consul Common within the metropolis, telling her to not intervene within the Chinese language-run territory’s inside affairs.

Cui Jianchun, commissioner of the Hong Kong workplace of China’s Ministry of International Affairs, warned Julie Eadeh about her conduct throughout a gathering on Tuesday, based on a Thursday assertion issued by the Chinese language official’s workplace.

The assertion stated Cui “urged Eadeh to abide by basic norms governing worldwide relations, together with noninterference in home affairs and make a clear break with anti-China forces”.

Within the assembly, Cui reportedly laid out “4 don’ts” for the US diplomat. He instructed her to not meet individuals she “shouldn’t meet with”; to not collude with “anti-China forces”; to not help or fund actions that may undermine town’s stability; and to not intervene with Hong Kong’s nationwide safety instances.

The warning got here after Eadeh, who took up the position because the US consultant within the metropolis in August, invited pro-democracy figures to occasions when she was political chief of the US consulate in Hong Kong in 2019 beneath the primary Trump administration.

In a press release on Thursday, the US Division of State dismissed Cui’s warning, saying: “US diplomats characterize our nation and are charged with advancing US pursuits globally, which is commonplace observe for diplomats around the globe, together with in Hong Kong.”

This week’s assembly between Cui and Eadeh underscores ongoing tensions between Beijing and Washington over democratic backsliding in Hong Kong, in addition to the broader problems with commerce, expertise and Taiwan.

Hong Kong is a particular administrative area of China, which is granted a level of autonomy as a part of the “one nation, two techniques” settlement that noticed the previous British territory returned to Beijing in 1997.

Governance within the metropolis, nevertheless, has grown more and more authoritarian within the nearly three many years since, say critics.

Large antigovernment protests towards Beijing’s rule, which started in 2019, resulted in China imposing a Nationwide Safety Regulation in June 2020, criminalising secession, subversion, terrorism and international collusion. Hong Kong’s Legislative Council then unanimously handed powerful new laws in 2024, increasing the federal government’s energy to crush town’s pro-democracy motion.

This safety laws has been used to jail activists, whereas native information shops, most notably the Apple Daily, have been shuttered.

Previous to his assembly with Eadeh, Cui’s workplace reposted articles from a number of pro-Beijing shops vital of the US diplomat, together with one on Saturday describing her as a promoter of “color revolution” – a time period referring to a mass protest motion in search of regime change.

The article referenced Eadeh’s assembly with pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong and Nathan Regulation throughout the 2019 protests, accusing the diplomat of getting shut hyperlinks to “black violence” – a time period utilized by pro-Beijing officers to consult with the protests.

One other article reposted by China’s workplace in Hong Kong criticised Eadeh for inviting distinguished pro-democracy legislators Anson Chan and Emily Lau to her occasions.

Eadeh is but to publicly touch upon her assembly with Cui.