WASHINGTON: The USA introduced on Friday (Mar 29) that it was “taking steps” to place recent visa curbs on Hong Kong officers accountable for cracking down on rights within the Chinese language metropolis, days after a brand new nationwide safety regulation got here into power.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned in a press release that Beijing has “continued to take actions in opposition to Hong Kong’s promised excessive diploma of autonomy, democratic establishments, and rights and freedoms” over the previous yr.
This crackdown, he mentioned, contains the latest passage of “Article 23“, a nationwide safety regulation concentrating on treason, riot, espionage and theft of state secrets and techniques, amongst different crimes.
In response to “intensifying repression” and restrictions on “civil society, media, and dissenting voices”, the State Division “is taking steps to impose new visa restrictions on a number of Hong Kong officers”, the assertion mentioned.
Blinken didn’t elaborate on the visa measures to be taken or the officers to be focused.
