{"id":37754,"date":"2021-07-16T14:21:52","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T21:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=37754"},"modified":"2021-07-16T16:22:22","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T23:22:22","slug":"marking-one-year-of-hong-kongs-national-security-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=37754","title":{"rendered":"Marking One Year of Hong Kong\u2019s National Security Law"},"content":{"rendered":"
07\/16\/2021 11:36 AM EDT<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State<\/p>\n

Over the past year,\u00a0People\u2019s Republic of China (PRC)\u00a0and Hong Kong officials\u00a0have\u00a0systematically undermined Hong Kong\u2019s\u00a0democratic\u00a0institutions<\/wbr>, delayed\u00a0elections, disqualified\u00a0elected lawmakers\u00a0from office, and forced\u00a0officials to take loyalty oaths\u00a0to keep their jobs.\u00a0\u00a0Since protests began in 2019, local authorities have arrested thousands for speaking out against government policies with which they disagreed, including for their\u00a0social media posts and for attending vigils.\u00a0 Journalists have been arrested\u00a0simply for doing their jobs\u00a0in\u00a0reporting on the government\u2019s activities and repressive efforts against protesters.\u00a0\u00a0Hong Kong authorities have\u00a0mounted a\u00a0persistent and politically motivated campaign against the free press, imprisoned\u00a0Apple Daily<\/em>\u00a0founder Jimmy Lai,\u00a0and forced\u00a0the closure of that publication \u2013 a bastion of independent reporting.\u00a0\u00a0Beijing\u00a0has chipped away at\u00a0Hong Kong\u2019s\u00a0reputation\u00a0of\u00a0accountab<\/wbr>le, transparent\u00a0governance and\u00a0respect for\u00a0individual\u00a0freedoms,\u00a0and\u00a0h<\/wbr>as broken its\u00a0promise\u00a0to leave Hong Kong\u2019s high degree of autonomy unchanged for 50 years.<\/p>\n

We will continue to stand up for the\u00a0rights and freedoms\u00a0guaranteed to people in Hong Kong by the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. \u00a0In the face of Beijing\u2019s\u00a0decisions\u00a0over the past year that\u00a0have\u00a0stifled\u00a0the democratic aspirations of people\u00a0in Hong Kong, we are\u00a0taking action.\u00a0\u00a0Today we send a clear message that the United States resolutely stands with Hong\u00a0Kongers.<\/p>\n

Promoting\u00a0Accountability:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The Department of State\u00a0has\u00a0designated\u00a0Chen Dong, Yang\u00a0Jianping,\u00a0Qiu\u00a0Hong, Lu\u00a0Xinning, Tan\u00a0Tieniu, He Jing, and Yin\u00a0Zonghua,\u00a0who are Deputy Directors of the Liaison Office of the Central People\u2019s Government\u00a0of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LOCPG).\u00a0\u00a0The LOCPG is\u00a0the PRC\u2019s\u00a0main platform for projecting its influence in Hong Kong\u00a0and has\u00a0repeatedly undermined the high degree of autonomy promised\u00a0for\u00a0Hong Kong in the Sino \u2013 British\u00a0Joint declaration.\u00a0The seven officials are being designated under Executive Order 13936.<\/p>\n

Transparency: \u00a0<\/strong>Hong Kong\u2019s business environment has deteriorated in the past year. \u00a0The\u00a0many legal, financial, operational, and reputational risks\u00a0long present in mainland China\u00a0are\u00a0now increasingly prevalent in Hong Kong. \u00a0A healthy business and investment climate requires a transparent regulatory framework and\u00a0adherence to\u00a0the rule of law. \u00a0Today, the Department of State, together with the Department of Commerce, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of the Treasury, released a\u00a0Business\u00a0Advisory\u00a0<\/a>warning of increased risks for businesses in Hong Kong. \u00a0These risks include those introduced by the National Security Law and other new legislation, potential electronic surveillance and lack of data privacy, reduced access to information, and\u00a0potential\u00a0retaliation\u00a0agai<\/wbr>nst companies\u00a0for\u00a0their\u00a0compliance with U.S. sanctions. \u00a0The business advisory outlines these emerging risks to inform U.S. individuals and businesses and recommends increased awareness and due diligence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

07\/16\/2021 11:36 AM EDT   Antony...<\/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-37754","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\/37754","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=37754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37755,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37754\/revisions\/37755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}