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WORLD NEWS Friday 27 January 2023

Consul: 20% of Americans in Hong Kong left in past 2 years

KANIS LEUNG and actions taken by Bei-
HONG KONG (AP) — About jing and Hong Kong author-
20% of the Americans in ities may negatively impact
Hong Kong have left for company staff, finances,
various reasons over the legal compliance reputa-
past two years, the U.S. tion and operations,” he
consul general in the semi- said.
autonomous Chinese city Hong Kong’s reputation as
said, drawing harsh criti- a free global financial cen-
cism from Beijing for alleg- ter could be further harmed
edly interfering in its affairs. if more of the “best and
Hong Kong’s strict anti-CO- brightest” leave the city,
VID-19 measures and “di- he said, referring to the de-
minishing freedoms” have cision by many Hong Kong
“clearly impacted the city citizens to move abroad af-
and the people in it,” Greg ter 2020.
May said, citing the de- The city’s government
parture of roughly 15,000 should “cease its disman-
Americans as one of the tlement of Hong Kong’s
outcomes. He said about democratic institutions, au-
70,000 Americans and tonomy and rule of law,”
1,300 U.S. companies are release those held unjustly
currently present in Hong A man walks past U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong Monday, March 15, 2021. and “respect human rights
Kong. In a video address Associated Press for all,” May said.
late Wednesday to the U.S. “further undermine the yers to take part in national jing to impose a sweeping In a response, the Chinese
Center for Strategic & Inter- independence of Hong security trials. National Security Law on Foreign Ministry’s office in
national Studies, May also Kong’s judiciary system by That came after Hong Kong the city. He is fighting collu- Hong Kong said May “slan-
said worries remain over expanding the Hong Kong leader John Lee, who is un- sion charges and faces up dered the rule of law and
Hong Kong’s “reputation executive branch’s author- der U.S. sanctions, asked to life in prison if convicted. freedom in Hong Kong”
as a business center which ity to make decisions af- Beijing to make a ruling May said that in light of and “deliberately discred-
depends on adherence fecting cases without judi- that could effectively block the standing committee’s ited Hong Kong’s business
to international standards cial oversight,” May said. jailed pro-democracy pub- ruling and other develop- environment.”May “reck-
and the rule of law.” The standing committee lisher Jimmy Lai from hiring ments, “companies should lessly trampled on the ba-
Among those concerns ruled that Hong Kong’s a British lawyer to represent be aware that the risks sic principle of not interfer-
was an interpretation last courts need the approval him. Lai was arrested in faced in mainland China ing with a place’s domestic
month by the standing of the territory’s chief ex- 2020 during a crackdown are now increasingly pres- affairs under international
committee of National ecutive or a separate com- on the city’s pro-democra- ent here in Hong Kong.” law and international rela-
People’s Congress, Chi- mittee to allow foreign law- cy movement that led Bei- “The National Security Law tions,” it said in a statement
na’s legislature, that could posted online.q

Haitian police rebels protest gang

killings of officers

PIERRE RICHARD LUXAMA ked and bloodied bodies and former police officers
and MEGAN JANETSKY of six officers stretched out that has violently demand-
The Associated Press on the dirt, their guns laying ed better conditions for of-
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) on their chests. The gang ficers.
— Disgruntled rebel police who killed them, known as Dozens of these men wove
officers roared through the Gan Grif, still has the bod- through city on Thursday,
streets of Haiti’s capital of ies, police said. many wearing hoods along
Port-au-Prince on Thurs- The killings are just the lat- with police uniforms, flak
day, blocking roads and est example of escalating jackets and rifles and au-
shooting guns into the air violence in the Caribbean tomatic weapons. They National police control security on a street in Port-au-Prince,
to protest a slew of killings nation, which has been seized buses to blockade Haiti, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023.
of police officers by Haitian gripped by gang wars and roads and torched tires Associated Press
gangs. political chaos following across the city, leaving home. streets and closed business-
Gangs have killed at least the 2021 assassination of smoke plummeting through
10 officers in the past week; President Jovenel Moise. the streets. “If they are killing police of- es on a key road of Port-
ficers, me as a citizen, what au-Prince where the rebel
another is missing and one His unelected successor Many demanded tougher
more has severe bullet has asked the United Na- crackdowns on the gangs, should I do?” one protester group passed through.
in a mask screamed into an In addition to the bodies
wounds, according to the tions to lead a military inter- and called for the end to
Haitian National Police. vention, but no country has the current government of Associated Press camera. displayed by the gang, a
“The police are second number of officers were
A video obtained by The been willing to put boots Ariel Henry, which many
Associated Press and ac- on the ground. Haitians view as illegiti- only to God and we’re go- killed last week in a firefight
with gangs in a neighbor-
ing to stand behind them.”
knowledged by police on The deaths enraged mem- mate. At one point, dem-
Thursday –- likely recorded bers of Fantom 509, an onstrators broke down one A video recorded by local hood that was once con-
by gangs -– shows the na- armed group of current of the gates outside Henry’s Haitian media shows empty sidered relatively safe.q