Lawmakers and activists warn that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to travel to Hong Kong to tout his state’s climate agenda risks whitewashing Beijing’s tightening chokehold on the territory.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom says his visit to Hong Kong is focused solely on climate issues. His aides say human rights are a federal matter, but lawmakers from both parties and climate activists say Newsom could hand China a high-profile win in its competition with the U.S. | José Luis Villegas/APHONG KONG — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is starting his trip to China in perhaps the most politically incendiary Asian city possible.
Newsom should “speak very clearly against the repression of the Hong Kong people,” Sen. Jeff Merkley , co-chair of the Congressional Executive Commission on China, said in an interview. “Otherwise it does great damage because it looks like the Chinese repression is accepted and we cannot allow that to be the case.”
Newsom’s Hong Kong stop-over has infuriated U.S.-based pro-democracy and human rights organizations. A coalition of more than 50 such groups issued aon Friday that flayed Newsom for trying to sideline human rights during his visit. They argue that Newsom’s singular focus on climate issues “sets a problematic tone for future diplomatic engagement” that benefits the territory’s sanctioned leaders.
Hong Kong would have been an odd stop for a U.S. politician anytime in the past decade, as China tightened its grip on its former British territory. It is particularly puzzling now, especially after the U.S. placed many Hong Kong leaders under sanctions for their roles in suppressing the Asian financial center’s democracy movement in 2019 and 2020.
“He’s walking into a political minefield,” said Samuel Chu, president of the pro-democracy group The Campaign for Hong Kong. “There’s no one in Hong Kong that is significant enough for him to meet that isn’t a target .” “The trip is focused on what we can do as a state to build upon our progress of the last many years in pushing China to be more aggressive in their response to the climate crisis,” Mellon said in her statement. “Our federal partners are working with China on a host of issues, including concerning human rights violations — which are of immense concern to the state and the federal government.”
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