Governments and officials around the world have condemned the Hong Kong government\u2019s decision to delay an upcoming election, saying it was Beijing\u2019s latest affront on\u2026<\/b>
\nGovernments and officials around the world have condemned the Hong Kong government\u2019s decision to delay an upcoming election, saying it was Beijing\u2019s latest affront on the city\u2019s freedoms.
\u201cThe world has watched the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s continued, escalating assault on Hong Kong\u2019s freedoms and autonomy,\u201d Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told The Epoch Times in a July 31 email.
On Friday, Hong Kong\u2019s top official Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced the decision to postpone the September Legislative Council election by one year, citing a surge in local virus cases. Hong Kong has recorded triple-digit increases in COVID-19 cases for the tenth day straight, with 121 new cases recorded on Friday.
Rubio said Beijing was exploiting the virus pandemic to \u201cremake Hong Kong in its image\u201d and that \u201cHongkongers\u2019 political freedoms are being crushed daily.\u201d
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, at a Friday press conference, condemned the election postponement, saying the action \u201cundermines the democratic processes and freedoms that have underpinned Hong Kong\u2019s prosperity,\u201d and is \u201conly the most recent in a growing list of broken promises by Beijing.\u201d
The move dealt a blow to the local pro-democracy camp, which hoped to win a majority of seats in the legislature. In mid-July, more than half a million Hongkongers came out to cast ballots in an unofficial primary organized by pro-democracy activists, a turnout widely viewed as a symbolic protest against the national security law.
In reaction to the election postponement, Germany suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong. The United States, U. K., Australia, Canada, and New Zealand previously ended their agreements with Hong Kong following Beijing\u2019s imposition of a sweeping national security law.
The law went into effect on July 1, the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong\u2019s transfer of sovereignty from British to Chinese rule.
On Thursday, local authorities mass-disqualified a dozen prominent pro-democracy activists from running in the election. Chris Patten, the last British governor, described the move as \u201can outrageous political purge.\u201d And on July 29, the Hong Kong police\u2019s new national security department made its first arrests, detaining four student activists for posting \u201cproblematic messages\u201d advocating for independence on social media.
The recent developments in Hong Kong \u201crepresent a further infringement of the rights of Hong Kong citizens,\u201d the Germany foreign ministry said in a statement on Twitter.
Hours after Lam made the announcement, Hong Kong police issued arrest warrants for six democracy activists currently based overseas, including Nathan Law and former British consular worker Simon Cheng, accusing them of violating the national security law.
Law, currently in the U. K., said that he had expected such a day to come when he fled Hong Kong amid growing Chinese encroachment, but that \u201cthis becoming a reality still disappoints, incapacitates, and frightens me.\u201d
\u201c[W]ho can enjoy freedom from fear in the face of China\u2019s powerful political machine?\u201d he said on Twitter. He said he has stopped contacting family members since leaving the city and will also sever ties with them.
\u201cThe arrests, the disqualifications, the wanted bulletins\u2014these are indications of our need to remain active on the global stage,\u201d he continued. \u201cThat Hong Kong has no place for even such moderate views like ours underscores the absurdity of Chinese Communist rule.\u201d
The Hong Kong government\u2019s decision also invited a torrent of U. S. criticism on Twitter. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) called it a \u201cslippery slope to authoritarianism,\u201d while Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said it showed the Chinese regime\u2019s pattern of suppression.
\u201cWhether the election is tomorrow or in a year, [Hong Kong\u2019s] desire for democracy won\u2019t fade,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n