Pompeo: Tough To Assess HK's Autonomy Now

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that recent treatment of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists made it more difficult to assess that the territory remains highly autonomous from Beijing, a requirement for the special treatment it enjoys under American law.

Pompeo said a congressionally-mandated State Department assessment as to whether the SAR has such a degree of autonomy was still pending.

"We are closely watching what's going on there," he told a news conference.

In reference to a dispute over the running of the Legislative Council's House Committe, Pompeo said pro-democracy lawmakers had been "manhandled" this week while trying to stop what he characterised as procedural irregularity by pro-Beijing legislators.

He added: "Leading Hong Kong activists like Martin Lee and Jimmy Lai were hauled into court. Actions like these make it more difficult to assess that Hong Kong remains highly autonomous from mainland China."

Pompeo announced on May 6 he was delaying the report assessing whether Hong Kong was sufficiently autonomous to warrant the special economic treatment that has helped it remain a world financial centre.

He said this was to account for any actions Beijing might contemplate ahead of the National People's Congress, which begins on Friday.

On Sunday, Pompeo said he believed Beijing had threatened to interfere with the work of US journalists in Hong Kong, and warned Beijing that any decision impinging on Hong Kong's autonomy could affect the American assessment. (Reuters)