Republican Lawmakers Question Blinken Over Hong Kong Invitation to APEC

Rep. Michael Gallagher (R-Wis.) speaks during an event commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre in Congress on June 5, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Two Republican lawmakers on Monday criticized the State Department for possibly failing to be transparent with Congress regarding Hong Kong’s representation in the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco.

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), chairman of the House China Committee, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a senior member of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, asking him to clarify whether his agency had extended an invitation to Hong Kong’s top official, John Lee, who is under U.S. sanctions.

In their letter, they noted that the State Department had informed congressional staff in July that the United States “will not invite” Mr. Lee to APEC due to U.S. sanctions against him. The letter recalled how China’s foreign ministry had reacted to the decision at that time, demanding the United States to “correct its wrong move” and invite Mr. Lee to APEC.

On Nov. 1, the Hong Kong government released a statement, saying that Mr. Lee “had personally received the invitation from the United States” to attend APEC. However, Mr. Lee would not travel to San Francisco due to “scheduling issues”; instead, Paul Chan, the city’s financial secretary, would attend the summit on his behalf.

“If true, this would mean that the State Department either deliberately lied to or misled Congress in July or later caved to the PRC demand, or both,” the two lawmakers wrote, referring to China’s official name, People’s Republic of China.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks during a press conference in the U.S. Capitol in Washington on July 11, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Rubio also revealed that their offices had taken part in a State Department briefing before sending their letter to Mr. Blinken. At that briefing, Matt Murray, a U.S. senior official for APEC, “did not directly refute” the reports about the personal invitation the Hong Kong government said had been extended to Mr. Lee.

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“Instead, [Mr. Murray] stated that the State Department sent a written invitation to the Hong Kong government to send an official to attend the APEC Leader’s Summit,” the lawmakers added.

The APEC summit runs from Nov. 11 to 17. The inter-governmental forum comprises 21 Asia-Pacific economies, including Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, Peru, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States. The previous host for the summit was Thailand. The last time the United States hosted the event was in 2011, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Mr. Lee was sanctioned in 2020 because of his role in implementing a draconian national law security law when he was Hong Kong’s security secretary. In designating Mr. Lee, the Department of Treasury said he was engaged in “coercing, arresting, detaining, or imprisoning individuals under the authority of the national security law.”

Mr. Lee took office as Hong Kong’s chief executive in July 2022, succeeding Carrie Lam, who has also been sanctioned for undermining the city’s autonomy and freedoms.

APEC Invitation

Beijing imposed the national security law on Hong Kong after months of anti-Chinese Communist Party and pro-democracy protests in the city starting in June 2019.

According to the Washington-based Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) Foundation, Mr. Lee “oversaw a violent police crackdown involving the use of water cannons, tear gas, rubber bullets, and brutal beatings against mostly peaceful protesters” in 2019, and “presided over the arrest of an estimated 10,000 individuals” following the 2019–2020 protests.

To support Hong Kong protesters and activists, Congress passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act and the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, which were subsequently signed into law by former President Donald Trump. The former law requires the secretary of state to certify annually whether Hong Kong is “sufficiently autonomous” to justify its special economic status granted under the United States–Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992.

Protesters march on Hong Kong streets with a sign that reads "Resist Tyranny" during the annual rally on July 1, 2019. (Yu Gang/The Epoch Times)

In their letter, the two lawmakers argued that Mr. Chan’s attendance at the APEC summit “is in and of itself problematic,” arguing that not a single secretary of state since 2020 “has certified that Hong Kong enjoys this autonomy.”

“Inviting any Hong Kong official to APEC would be tantamount to recognizing Hong Kong as a separate economy from the PRC, when in fact, and according to U.S. law, it is not,” the letter reads. “We urge you to immediately rescind your invitation to Secretary Chan; otherwise, the PRC will receive disproportionate representation at the summit.”

Frances Hui, policy and advocacy coordinator at CFHK Foundation, told RealClearPolitics earlier this month that she was disappointed even though Mr. Lee will not travel to San Francisco.

“While we are pleased that John Lee will not be attending APEC in the United States, we are disappointed that the Hong Kong government received an invite,” Ms. Hui told the outlet in a statement. “It is time to go further and deny Hong Kong its own separate place at the political table.

“If ‘one country, two systems’ is now dead, then China should not have two bites of the same apple,” she added.

The two lawmakers pressed Mr. Blinken to address several questions before Nov. 13. One of their inquiries was, “Did the administration issue an invitation, or any other written communication regarding APEC, to Chief Executive Lee, even if he later declined it?”

Another question they posed was, “Will you rescind the invitation to Secretary Chan and ensure that no officials from the Hong Kong SAR attend the summit.”

In response to an email request for comment from The Epoch Times, a State Department spokesperson said the department received the lawmakers’ letter and does not comment on congressional correspondence.

“An invitation letter was sent to Hong Kong as an APEC member economy,” the spokesperson said, before adding that the department welcomes Mr. Chan’s participation in the summit.

“The United States takes its responsibility for hosting APEC in 2023 seriously,” the spokesperson added. “We have been clear that participating in APEC 2023 will be in accordance with U.S. law and regulations, including with respect to sanctions.”