President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that Hong Kong citizens currently within the us who fear for his or her safety amid the political crackdown back home will receive temporary shelter .
Biden said the move recognises “the significant erosion” of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong by the Chinese government.
“By unilaterally imposing on Hong Kong the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security within the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the People’s Republic of China has undermined the enjoyment of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong ,” he said during a statement.
Biden cited the “politically motivated arrests” of quite 100 opposition politicians, activists and protestors on charges under the national security law, including allegations of secession, subversion and terrorist activities.
More than 10,000 others are arrested in reference to anti-government protests, he said.
The new decision allows Hong Kong residents currently within the us to stay for 18 months and to be allowed to figure .
“This action demonstrates President Biden’s strong support for people in Hong Kong within the face of ongoing repression by the People’s Republic of China, and makes clear we’ll not stand idly by because the PRC breaks its promises to Hong Kong and to the international community,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
Biden announced the Hong Kongers present within the us as of Thursday would be granted “deferred enforced departure,” (DED) almost like “temporary protected status” (TPS), which is given to foreign nationals stuck within the us thanks to natural disasters or political upheavals back home.
TPS may be a status assigned to countries by the Department of Homeland Security , while DED are often declared by the president under his own powers, consistent with a United States government website. Neither status is permanent but are often renewed regularly.
China introduced the national security law in Hong Kong on June 30, 2020, giving Beijing more power over the territory’s judiciary and criminalizing many sorts of political activities.
Critics say it’s getting used to undermine the “one country, two systems” architecture for the city’s governance, established when Britain handed its former colony back to China in 1997.
The arrests of opposition politicians has stifled free speech and left activists in fear of detention or other punishment, including those overseas.
In June, Hong Kong police raided the offices of the feisty pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, shutting it down and arresting key executives.
Under the national security law, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “Hong Kong’s promise of democracy has dimmed.” “The PRC has fundamentally altered the bedrock of Hong Kong’s institutions and suppressed freedoms of Hong Kongers,” he said during a statement.
The decision to grant Hong Kongers shelter is probably going to further sour relations between Beijing and Washington, because the two sides bully off over China’s contested territorial claims to Taiwan and islands within the South China Sea, US allegations that China methodically steals American property , and therefore the sweeping repression of Uyghurs and other minorities in China’s western Xinjiang region.
China believes that the us seeks to repress its metamorphosis into a worldwide power.
When a top US diplomat, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, visited Beijing in July for talks, Vice secretary of state Xie Feng said that Washington must stop seeing China as an “imaginary enemy.”
