{"id":32743,"date":"2021-03-11T18:00:35","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T02:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=32743"},"modified":"2021-03-11T18:00:35","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T02:00:35","slug":"assault-on-democracy-in-hong-kong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=32743","title":{"rendered":"Assault on Democracy in Hong Kong"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>03\/11\/2021 07:03 PM EST<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State<\/p>\n<p>The United States condemns the PRC\u2019s continuing assault on democratic institutions in Hong Kong.\u00a0 The National People\u2019s Congress decision today to unilaterally change Hong Kong\u2019s electoral system is a direct attack on autonomy promised to people in Hong Kong under the Sino-British Joint Declaration. \u00a0These actions deny Hong Kongers a voice in their own governance by limiting political participation, reducing democratic representation, and stifling political debate.\u00a0 Beijing\u2019s actions also run counter to the Basic Law\u2019s clear acknowledgment that Hong Kong elections should progress towards universal suffrage.<\/p>\n<p>We call on the PRC to uphold its international obligations and commitments and to act consistently with Hong Kong\u2019s Basic Law.\u00a0 The PRC\u2019s attempt to label its crackdown on Hong Kong as an \u201cinternal matter\u201d ignores the commitments Beijing made in the Sino-British Joint Declaration to uphold Hong Kong\u2019s autonomy and enumerated rights and freedoms until at least 2047.<\/p>\n<p>We call on the PRC and Hong Kong authorities to allow the September 2021 Legislative Council elections to proceed and ensure that all candidates are included in a transparent and credible manner.\u00a0 We also call on these authorities to release and drop charges against all individuals charged under the National Security Law and other laws merely for standing for elections or for their expressions of dissenting views.<\/p>\n<p>A stable, prosperous Hong Kong that respects human rights, freedoms, and pluralism serves the interests of Hong Kong, mainland China, and the broader international community.\u00a0 The United States stands united\u00a0with our allies and partners in speaking out for the rights and freedoms of people in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>03\/11\/2021 07:03 PM EST Antony J.&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s-a","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32743"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32744,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32743\/revisions\/32744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}