Washington (AFP)
US Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo on Sunday asked China not to interfere in the work of American journalists working in Hong Kong, launching a new controversy with Beijing over freedom of expression.
"I was recently informed that the Chinese government has threatened to interfere with the work of American journalists in Hong Kong," the secretary of state said in a statement. "These journalists are part of the free press, and are not the targets of propaganda."
"Any decision affecting the autonomy and freedoms of Hong Kong guaranteed by the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law would inevitably affect our assessment of the rule" One country, two systems + and the status of the territory ", he added, referring to the political system of Hong Kong which allows this former British colony a certain autonomy.
Pompeo did not explicitly criticize China, and did not give examples. But the statement represents the latest American response to the expulsion by Beijing of more than fifteen American journalists since the start of the year.
These expulsions added fuel to the fire to already strained relations between the two leading powerful economies in the world. They trade spikes on the coronavirus pandemic, and US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose new tariffs on Chinese products.
In February, Chinese authorities expelled three journalists from the Wall Street Journal, which had just published a column on the coronavirus crisis and deemed racist by Beijing.
A few weeks later, Washington lowered the accreditation of Chinese journalists to government bodies.
And in March, Beijing expelled a dozen journalists from the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.
© 2020 AFP