Hong Kong residents facing deportation from the United States will be permitted to remain for 18 months under a new measure unveiled by U.S. officials in response to China’s crackdown on the city.
“The PRC has fundamentally altered the bedrock of Hong Kong’s institutions and suppressed freedoms of Hong Kongers,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday. “Today, President Biden directed Deferred Enforced Departure for Hong Kong residents in the United States for 18 months, joining our partners and allies in offering safe haven should residents fear returning to Hong Kong.”
Chinese Communist officials have overhauled the former British colony’s electoral system and restricted speech rights in the territory in violation of the agreement signed when the United Kingdom yielded sovereignty over Hong Kong to Beijing. That crackdown exacerbated U.S. and European anger with the mainland Chinese regime and spurred U.S. officials to declare that Hong Kong is no longer eligible for special economic treatment under American law.
“There are compelling foreign policy reasons to defer enforced departure for Hong Kong residents presently in the United States,” President Joe Biden said in a statement unveiling the order. “The United States is committed to a foreign policy that unites our democratic values with our foreign policy goals, which is centered on the defense of democracy and the promotion of human rights around the world.”
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Beijing’s assertion of power in Hong Kong is emblematic of Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping’s intolerance of dissent in areas under Chinese control — an attitude that extends even to sanctioning foreign commercial enterprises, such as the NBA, for individual statements of support for Hong Kong. Biden’s announcement Thursday coincided with an announcement by the Hong Kong police that a man was arrested after booing during the Chinese national anthem while watching the Olympics.
“The 40-year-old man was allegedly waving colonial-era Hong Kong flags and booing, while urging others to join him in insulting the national anthem,” the Associated Press reported. “The booing started at the medal ceremony, when the national anthem began playing. Police said there may be additional arrests and that an active investigation is underway.”
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Chinese Communist officials agreed to allow Hong Kong a “high degree of autonomy” for 50 years after the handover of the region in 1997.
“The PRC has fundamentally altered the bedrock of Hong Kong’s institutions and suppressed freedoms of Hong Kongers,” Blinken said Thursday. “In the face of PRC and Hong Kong authorities’ attempts to stifle democratic aspirations, we will take action.”
