Hong Kong to host crucial summit in wake of political elites' postponed US trip
Hong Kong's convenor of the Executive Council revealed on Tuesday the reason for the delay of a high-profile visit by the city's political and business elites to the United States during Easter was to avoid any misunderstanding amid ongoing US-China tensions as she announced details of a crucial coming summit.
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Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, who also chairs a co-organiser for the prominent Global Prosperity Summit in the city from May 19 to 21, further disclosed that two former US consuls general in Hong Kong, Hanscom Smith and Kurt Tong, would be taking part in the summit, along with a former senior mainland Chinese diplomat.
'Originally, I planned to visit the US during Easter last month, but I felt that the timing was not appropriate, particularly because [US President Donald] Trump has been stating daily that someone from China was reaching out to him,' she said.
The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce announced on April 17 that its delegation of 10 to 20 members and leaders would not depart for Dallas on April 24 as scheduled due to the rapidly changing geopolitical situation. This would have been the chamber's first visit to the US in seven years.
The New People's Party, also led by Ip, similarly postponed its trip to the US.
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'We did not want to be misunderstood [as the] people reaching out to him. Therefore, I, along with lawmaker Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung, decided to postpone our itinerary,' she added.
President Trump had refuted a Chinese statement on April 25, asserting that the two economic powers had held talks earlier that day to ease the ongoing trade war, contrary to China's claim that no such discussions had taken place.
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