National security adviser Robert O’Brien said on Sunday that the US is “exploring further options” after more than 50 activists in Hong Kong were arrested.
O’Brien labeled the 55 or so arrests last week, the largest mass arrest since China enacted a new national security law in Hong Kong, as’ politicized ‘and’ the last of many successive nails Beijing has driven into the coffin of Hong Kong democracy. . . ”
“The United States was the first major country with the courage and conviction to openly recognize the true nature of the CCP regime,” O’Brien said in a statement. “It is critical that nations around the world demand accountability from Beijing.”
“The world cannot continue to pay high prices for its naivety and complicity in Beijing’s irresponsible and damaging practices – whether it is ending the rule of law in Hong Kong or failing to cooperate with health officials on the pandemic,” he continued . “The United States is exploring further options to respond.”
The national security adviser said President Trump
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US, Australian, Canadian and British Officials condemned the arrests in a joint statement dated on Saturday.
“It is clear that the National Security Act is being used to eliminate dissent and opposing political views,” the diplomats said. “We call on the central authorities of Hong Kong and China to respect the legally guaranteed rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong without fear of arrest and detention.”
The joint statement has been signed by the State Secretary Mike Pompeo
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Most of those arrested were detained for participating in an unofficial primary to a since-postponed parliamentary election, which officials said disobeyed the law. All but three have been released on bail The Associated Press.
China last year backed the national security law designed to criminalize foreign interference, subversion and secession. Western governments and activists in Hong Kong have rejected the law, saying it jeopardizes the “one nation, two systems” rule, which China agreed when it took control of Hong Kong in 1997.
Hong Kong officials criticized the joint letter from foreign officials, saying, “We are shocked by the comments of some foreign government officials who seemed to suggest that people of certain political beliefs should be immune from legal sanctions.”
The National Security Act was passed more than a year after pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong rocked the city over a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed suspects to be extradited to China.