US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that Beijing has "continued to take actions against Hong Kong's promised high degree of autonomy, democratic institutions, and rights and freedoms" over the past year.
This crackdown, he said, includes the recent passage of "Article 23," a national security law targeting treason, insurrection, espionage and theft of state secrets, among other crimes.
In response to "intensifying repression" and restrictions on "civil society, media, and dissenting voices," the State Department "is taking steps to impose new visa restrictions on multiple Hong Kong officials," the statement said.
Blinken did not elaborate on the visa measures to be taken or the officials to be targeted.
His announcement comes after Washington's annual review of Hong Kong's autonomy, a status promised by Beijing when Britain handed over the city in 1997.
"This year, I have again certified that Hong Kong does not warrant treatment under U.S. laws in the same manner as the laws were applied to Hong Kong before July 1, 1997," Blinken said.
Washington has previously imposed visa restrictions and sanctions on Hong Kong officials it accuses of eroding the rights and freedoms that differentiate the city from the rest of China.
In 2020, the United States also revoked the financial hub's special trade status in response to the quashing of 2019's large, and at times violent, pro-democracy protests.
The Hong Kong government rejected the US report, saying that the sanctions and visa restrictions "smack of despicable political manipulation to intimidate the officials safeguarding national security."
The government said in a lengthy statement the city remained autonomous and that the new security law protected fundamental rights and freedoms.
China's foreign ministry representative in Hong Kong "strongly condemned" Washington's latest move as smearing the new security law and interfering in China's internal affairs.
The annual review of Hong Kong's autonomy was "a farce that nobody was buying... and should be sent to history's trash heap," a spokesperson for the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 to quell the protests.
Article 23, which became effective last week, is an additional, homegrown national security law that officials said was needed to plug security loopholes.
Separately on Friday, the US government-funded news service Radio Free Asia said it had closed its Hong Kong office after the enactment of the new law, citing concerns for the safety of its staff.
US outlet Radio Free Asia closes Hong Kong office over security law fears
Washington (AFP) Mar 29, 2024 -
The US news outlet Radio Free Asia (RFA) said Friday it had closed its Hong Kong office over staff safety concerns after the city enacted a controversial new national security law.
The Chinese finance hub last week brought into force a homegrown security law -- commonly known as Article 23 -- that introduced tough penalties for crimes such as treason, espionage and external interference.
The law, which prompted swift criticism by several democracies and rights organizations, will work in tandem with a 2020 Beijing-imposed version that has silenced nearly all dissent in Hong Kong and seen nearly 300 people arrested since its enactment.
RFA president and CEO Bay Fang said in a statement that the company no longer had full-time staff in Hong Kong and has closed its physical office, citing "concerns about the safety of RFA staff and reporters."
"Actions by Hong Kong authorities, including referring to RFA as a 'foreign force,' raise serious questions about our ability to operate in safety with the enactment of Article 23," Fang said.
A Hong Kong government spokesperson declined to comment on "operational decisions of individual organizations," but said authorities "strongly disapprove of and condemn all scaremongering and smearing remarks" in relation to the national security law.
"To single out Hong Kong and suggest that journalists would only experience concerns when operating here but not in other countries would be grossly biased, if not outrageous," the spokesperson told AFP on Friday.
Hong Kong's security chief Chris Tang slammed RFA last month for "smearing" Article 23 when it reported that some new offenses would target the media.
RFA's article had quoted criticism of the law.
When asked whether RFA had breached the law, Tang later said that he wanted to alert the public to wrong information peddled by "foreign forces."
- Further erosion of autonomy -
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a report Friday delivered to Congress, said that China has kept chipping away at the autonomy promised to Hong Kong when Britain handed it back in 1997.
Article 23 could be used "to eliminate dissent inside Hong Kong" and overseas as part of China's "ongoing campaign of transnational repression," Blinken said in a statement.
RFA, headquartered in Washington with broadcasts in nine Asian languages, was founded in 1996 with a mission to provide news coverage of places that restrict free media.
RFA is funded by the US Congress but with a mandate of editorial independence.
US Representative Greg Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, hailed RFA as a "rare source of independent news coming out of Hong Kong despite facing unrelenting pressure and harassment."
"The closure of RFA's bureau in Hong Kong, after 28 years, is a stark reminder of how brazenly Beijing has extinguished Hong Kong's autonomy," Meeks said.
Fang said that RFA would still cover Hong Kong, but in the same way as it does in closed media environments where the organization cannot station staff.
RFA is the first foreign media outlet to publicly announce its closure in Hong Kong since the national security law came into effect on March 23.
Hong Kong officials have defended the new security legislation as necessary to "plug" security loopholes.
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