Mike Pompeo said he did not know how things would “play out” by inviting the Hungarians to the United States.
Washington:
The United States is considering the option of hosting Hungarians in response to pressure from China to impose national security legislation in the former British colony, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in published remarks Monday.
The influential Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell also said on Monday that he hoped the Trump administration would soon identify specific ways “to impose fees on Beijing” to restrict freedoms in Hong Kong. McConnell said the United States should reflect the response of other democracies and open its doors to the people of the territory.
Speaking to the Senate, McConnell said that the United States has “a rich heritage of lighthouse status” for refugees from war and communism.
“We must exercise it again for the people of Hong Kong,” he said.
President Donald Trump ordered his administration to start the process of eliminating the United States’ special treatment for Hong Kong on Friday to punish China for restricting freedoms there, but did not end. immediately to the privileges that helped the territory remain a global financial center.
Britain last week said it was ready to offer extended visa fees and a path to citizenship for nearly 3 million Hong Kong residents.
Friday in an interview with the American Enterprise Institute, Pompeo was asked if Washington is considering hosting Hungarians “to come here and bring their entrepreneurial creativity.”
“We are thinking about it. I do not know exactly how it will unfold,” he said on Monday in a statement shared by the State Department.
“The British have, as you know, a different relationship. Many of these people have British national passports. There is a long history between Hong Kong and the United Kingdom; it is very different. But we take a look at it. look, “he added.
Asked about Pompeo’s comments, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Tuesday that China would not tolerate foreign interference in Hong Kong.
“We want the United States to do more to benefit the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong and the development of Sino-US relations,” he said at a daily press conference in Beijing.
Last year, Trump approved legislation stating that Hong Kong residents cannot be denied visas because they have been subjected to politically motivated “unfavorable” arrests, detentions or other government measures.
On Friday, Trump also issued a proclamation suspending the entry of Chinese nationals identified as potential security risks, a source that could affect thousands of people.
In a statement released on Monday, Pompeo said the move would only apply to graduate students and researchers “targeted, co-opted and exploited” by the Chinese government, representing “only a small subset” of these candidates .
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
