China told the US envoy to abide by \u2018fundamental norms governing international relations\u2019, including noninterference.<\/p>\n
The United States has dismissed a warning issued by Beijing\u2019s top diplomat in Hong Kong to Washington\u2019s new Consul General in the city, telling her not to interfere in the Chinese-run territory\u2019s internal affairs.<\/p>\n
Cui Jianchun, commissioner of the Hong Kong office of China\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, warned Julie Eadeh about her conduct during a meeting on Tuesday, according to a Thursday statement issued by the Chinese official\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
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The statement said Cui \u201curged Eadeh to abide by fundamental norms governing international relations, including noninterference in domestic affairs and make a clean break with anti-China forces\u201d.<\/p>\n
In the meeting, Cui reportedly laid out \u201cfour don\u2019ts\u201d for the US diplomat. He instructed her not to meet people she \u201cshouldn\u2019t meet with\u201d; not to collude with \u201canti-China forces\u201d; not to assist or fund activities that might undermine the city\u2019s stability; and not to interfere with Hong Kong\u2019s national security cases.<\/p>\n
The warning came after Eadeh, who took up the role as the US representative in the city in August, invited pro-democracy figures to events when she was political chief of the US consulate in Hong Kong in 2019 under the first Trump administration.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Thursday, the US Department of State dismissed Cui\u2019s warning, saying: \u201cUS diplomats represent our nation and are charged with advancing US interests globally, which is standard practice for diplomats around the world, including in Hong Kong.\u201d<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s meeting between Cui and Eadeh underscores ongoing tensions between Beijing and Washington over democratic backsliding in Hong Kong, as well as the wider issues of trade, technology and Taiwan.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, which is granted a degree of autonomy as part of the \u201cone country, two systems\u201d agreement that saw the former British territory returned to Beijing in 1997.<\/p>\n
Governance in the city, however, has grown increasingly authoritarian in the almost three decades since, say critics.<\/p>\n
Massive antigovernment protests against Beijing\u2019s rule, which began in 2019, resulted in China imposing a National Security Law in June 2020, criminalising secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign collusion. Hong Kong\u2019s Legislative Council then unanimously passed tough new legislation in 2024, expanding the government\u2019s power to crush the city\u2019s pro-democracy movement.<\/p>\n