White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany harshly condemned Hong Kong’s decision Friday to delay its previously upcoming elections.
“We condemn the Hong Kong government’s decision to postpone for one year its legislative council elections and to disqualify opposition candidates,” she told reporters gathered in the White House briefing room. “This action undermines the democratic processes and freedoms that have underpinned Hong Kong’s prosperity, and this is only the most recent in a growing list of broken promises by Beijing which promised autonomy and freedom to the Hong Kong people until 2047 in the Sino-British Joint Declaration.” (RELATED: Hong Kong Delays Elections, Disqualifies A Dozen Pro-Democracy Candidates)
WATCH:
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam made the announcement Friday morning, just one day after banning a number of opposition opponents from being listed on the ballot. In addition to delaying the 2020 election, Lam listed criteria that would disqualify future candidates from holding office, including calling for Hong Kong’s independence, asking foreign governments to intervene in Hong Kong’s policies, opposition to Beijing’s national security law and voting down proposals offered by the Hong Kong government as an act of protest.
[I was just disqualified from LegCo election, despite being the biggest winner in #Hkprimaries]
1. Few minutes ago, I was just disqualified from running in the upcoming LegCo election in #Hongkong, even though I got the highest vote share in the primary, w/ 30000+ votes obtained pic.twitter.com/sC3XWbBlsq
— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 (@joshuawongcf) July 30, 2020
The U.S. formally rescinded economic protections offered to Hong Kong following Beijing’s new national security law imposed on the city.