The Hong Kong Chief Executive, John Ka-chiu will be refused alongside ten other officials by Washington from participating in the next Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum meeting to be held in San Francisco, US, the Washington Post announced on Friday.
APEC is an annual conference on economics that assembles the governments from the Asia-Pacific region but this time some Hong Kong leaders would not be allowed to represent due to the sanction by the United States in 2020 alleging them of playing a role in the cracking down on political freedoms in the city.
A White House spokesperson told the media: “We’re looking forward to the participation of all APEC member delegations in accordance with US laws and regulations.”
The Washington Post cited US officials, speaking anonymously, as saying that other senior representatives from Hong Kong could still attend.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, told the local news media that the move violates APEC rules: “We express our strong opposition…”
The action appears despite recent efforts by Washington to readjust relations with Beijing.
美國製裁的李約翰將被禁止參加下一次在舊金山舉行的 APEC 會議
《華盛頓郵報》週五宣布，香港行政長官李家超和其他十名官員將被華盛頓拒絕參加下屆在美國舊金山舉行的亞太經合組織（APEC）論壇會議。
APEC是一個年度經濟會議，聚集了亞太地區各國政府，但這次一些香港領導人因美國在2020年實施制裁而被禁止參加，指責他們在打擊經濟中發揮了作用 關於城市的政治自由。
白宮發言人對媒體表示： “我們期待所有APEC成員代表團按照美國法律法規參加。”
《華盛頓郵報》援引匿名美國官員的話說，香港的其他高級代表仍可以出席。
與此同時，中國駐華盛頓大使館發言人劉鵬宇對當地新聞媒體表示，此舉違反了APEC規則： “我們表示強烈反對……”
儘管華盛頓最近努力調整與北京的關係，但這一行動還是出現了。
Comments