HONG KONG: Hong Kong tried on Tuesday (Jan 21) to reset its relationship with new US President Donald Trump however despatched combined messages by additionally condemning “malicious” feedback by his former deputy about jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai.
Chief govt John Lee stated he hoped for a “good start line” for Hong Kong-US ties, which frayed throughout a US-China commerce battle that started in Trump’s first time period.
“There are a number of commonalities and customary pursuits between Hong Kong and the US, and with the brand new president in workplace, I hope to see that there might be good efforts to advertise optimistic relations,” Lee informed reporters.
Nevertheless, an official later informed AFP that the Hong Kong administration “disapproves of and condemns” latest feedback about Lai made by Trump’s former vice chairman Mike Pence.
Pence visited Hong Kong final week to talk at an occasion hosted by UBS financial institution.
His account on social media platform X later reposted a Wall Avenue Journal editorial that quoted him as calling for China to launch Lai as a “message of fine will”.
A authorities spokesperson stated Pence’s feedback had been supposed “to affect the equity of the trial with malicious intent”.
This was “a shameless interference with the course of justice and on Hong Kong’s righteous efforts in safeguarding nationwide safety”.
US politicians shouldn’t “make use of enterprise actions for political manipulation in a useless try to challenge the rule of law in Hong Kong“, the spokesperson stated.
