(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. blasted China for intensifying a crackdown on democracy advocates over the past year, criticism that Hong Kong called “unfounded” and “ridiculous.”
Authorities in Hong Kong blocked the pro-democracy opposition from playing a meaningful role in the city's governance and criminalized peaceful political expression, the U.S. State Department said in a report released on Thursday.
China's government has continued to “dismantle Hong Kong's democratic institutions, placed unprecedented pressure on the judiciary, and stifled academic, cultural, and press freedoms,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement accompanying the report. “As the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to Beijing approaches, Hong Kong's freedoms are diminishing.”
Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have targeted groups, associations, media companies and labor unions affiliated with the region's pro‑democracy movement with raids, arrests, prosecutions and asset freezes, creating a chilling effect and forcing them to cease operations, according to the report. It highlighted the shutdown of two of Hong Kong's largest independent media outlets, Apple Daily and Stand News, as examples of reduced freedom of speech.
“Beijing will ultimately force many of the city's best and brightest to flee, tarnishing Hong Kong's reputation and weakening its competitiveness,” Blinken said. “Hong Kong's position as a free, global financial center will continue to suffer as a result.”
The Hong Kong government rebuked the U.S. statement along with a separate biannual report released by the U.K., characterizing them as “unfounded” and “ridiculous.”
Hong Kong “enjoys a high degree of autonomy under ‘one country, two systems'” the government said in a statement, adding that it “urges foreign countries to stop interfering into the internal affairs of China through Hong Kong affairs.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said later at a regular briefing in Beijing that “the U.S. report, in disregard of facts, wantonly criticizes Hong Kong's affairs” and the governments on both sides of the border. “China deplores and rejects it,” he said.
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