US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement on Monday said he is deeply troubled by the arrest of media mogul Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong under a new national security law
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th August, 2020) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement on Monday said he is deeply troubled by the arrest of media mogul Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong under a new national security law.
Earlier in the day, Hong Kong police arrested Lai and nine others during a raid of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily on charges of colluding with a foreign country under the controversial law.
"I'm deeply troubled by reports of the arrest of [Jimmy Lai Apple] under Hong Kong's draconian National Security Law," Pompeo said. "Further proof that the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] has eviscerated Hong Kong's freedoms and eroded the rights of its people."
During the raid of the newspaper, prominent anti-Beijing activist Agnes Chow and Lai's two sons were also arrested.
China's newly-adopted national security law adjusts security policies in Hong Kong to Beijing's perception of crime and punishment with regard to separatism, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign countries.
The critics of the law in China's special administrative region and abroad fear that it might limit Hong Kong's exclusive rights and freedoms.
Beijing has repeatedly accused the United States of meddling in China's internal affairs by making such statements.
