On the eve of U.S. Secretary of State Blinken’s three-day visit to China on Wednesday (24th), the U.S. State Department released the 2023 Human Rights Report by Country on Monday (22nd), criticizing the Chinese government for violating its commitments in the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law and continuing to deprive Hong Kong of its rights. Political freedom and autonomy. British human rights group Hong Kong Watch welcomed the US State Department human rights report and urged Blinken to raise the issue of human rights violations in Hong Kong with China during his visit to China this week.
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The full text of the U.S. State Department’s “Country Human Rights Reports” covering Hong Kong is over 11,000 words long. It mentions major human rights issues including: indiscriminate arrests, serious problems with judicial independence, the situation of political prisoners or detained persons, cross-border repression, arbitrary interference with privacy, Severe restrictions on freedom of expression and the press, significant interference with freedom of peaceful assembly and association, restrictions on freedom of movement and the right to leave the country, the inability of citizens to peacefully change the government through peaceful and equal elections, unreasonable and severe restrictions on political participation, severe restrictions on local and international Human rights organizations, severe restrictions on workers’ freedom of association and other reports.
The report also repeatedly mentioned many political cases such as Jimmy Lai’s case, the 47-person case, and Zou Xingtong’s case. The report mentioned Lai’s case five times, including: the High Court rejected Lai Chi-ying’s application for judicial review in May last year, claiming that the National Security Council had exceeded its authority to recommend that the Immigration Department refuse to grant a visa to Tim Owen, the British Queen’s Counsel who was appointed by him; Before the trial started on December 18 last year, Lai had been detained for more than 1,000 days; the three cases, including the Lai case, the 47 people case, and the stake association’s refusal to hand over information case, did not have juries but were appointed by the government. The national security judge made a ruling; the Hong Kong government froze Jimmy Lai’s assets of nearly HK$500 million, etc.
The report also mentioned that the Hong Kong National Security Police offered HK$1 million each in July and December last year to arrest wanted members including Legislative Council member Yung Hoi-en and his family member Yuen Kung-yi, former Legislative Council member Hui Chi-fung, “Charterer” Liu Zudi, and former Demosisto Thirteen people including the founding chairman of the Party Luo Guancong, the founder of the Hong Kong Overseas Chinese Association in the UK Cheng Wenjie and the policy and advocacy specialist of the Hong Kong Freedom Council Foundation (CFHK) Hui Yingting.
Blinken: Uighurs in Xinjiang are victims of genocide
The U.S. State Department human rights report also singled out China for committing genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghur Muslims and members of other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang. The report points out China’s indiscriminate detentions, including the arbitrary detention of more than 1 million Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities since 2017. Blinken mentioned at the press conference that the Uighurs in Xinjiang and the Rohingya in Myanmar are “victims of genocide and crimes against humanity” and that the United States will continue to express its concerns about human rights violations to relevant governments.
Robert Gilchrist, a senior official in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, said at a press conference that during Blinken’s visit to China, he will raise concerns about China’s human rights situation in the highest level and in the clearest way.
The Hong Kong Supervisory Authority posted on the social platform Raise the issue of human rights violations in Hong Kong to China.
In addition, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin criticized the U.S. State Department at a regular press conference on Tuesday (23rd) for concocting so-called “human rights reports” year after year. The China-related content is full of political lies and ideological bias. China’s response to This expresses dissatisfaction and opposition; it urges the United States to stop claiming to be a “human rights teacher” and stop pointing out the human rights situation in other countries.
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