Latest news with #Commissioner'sOfficeofChina
South China Morning Post
09-04-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
US lawmakers urged to ‘pull back from the brink' over Hong Kong trade office bill
Beijing has urged several US lawmakers to 'pull back from the brink' after they reintroduced a bill to give the White House the power to close Hong Kong's three trade offices in the country, vowing retaliation if the proposal progresses any further. Advertisement The Commissioner's Office of China's Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong issued the warning on Wednesday after US Congressmen Chris Smith and James McGovern revived the bipartisan Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act. A version of the bill cleared a committee in the US Senate in 2023 but never went to the full floor for a vote. The proposed legislation would empower the White House to strip Hong Kong's trade offices in New York, San Francisco and Washington of their privileges or close them if they were deemed not to operate without a 'high degree of autonomy' from the People's Republic of China. A spokesman for the commissioner's office said the three trade offices had played a positive role in promoting Hong Kong-US economic and commercial ties, adding that their operations should not be placed under unreasonable scrutiny. Advertisement 'Some US politicians, driven by their own political self-interest, openly smeared and defamed the Hong Kong trade offices. [They are] not only interfering with and disrupting normal Hong Kong-US exchanges and cooperation but also exposing their vicious intention to disrupt Hong Kong's stability and prosperity,' he said.
South China Morning Post
16-03-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Beijing slams Western UN diplomats over meeting Jimmy Lai's son and legal team
The Chinese foreign ministry's arm in Hong Kong has slammed the American, British and Canadian ambassadors to the United Nations, accusing them of interfering in the city's affairs after the son of jailed former media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying met them last week. Advertisement In a statement issued on Sunday, the Commissioner's Office of China's Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong called Lai 'the top culprit among anti-China elements' and expressed 'strong disapproval and firm rejection' of the meeting involving the ambassadors and Lai's family and legal team. 'They were emboldening anti-China destabilising forces, smearing Hong Kong's rule of law and interfering in Hong Kong and China's internal affairs,' the spokesman said. Lai, 77, has denied two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces under the national security law and a third of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications. His oral testimony at West Kowloon Court lasted for more than 50 days. Sebastien Lai, the son of the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid newspaper, wrote on social media that he met the diplomats between Thursday and Saturday. Some of the officials openly called for the release of Jimmy Lai afterward. Advertisement The office spokesman said 'anti-China destabilising forces' had crossed 'legal red lines' and challenged Hong Kong's constitutional order and the fundamental principles of the 'one country, two systems' governing system, as well as colluded with external forces to endanger national security.
