The US State Department dismissed a warning on October 2 issued by the senior Chinese diplomat in Hong Kong to the newly appointed US consul-general at the post against meddling in the affairs of the Chinese-controlled city.
In a statement, a senior State Department official responded to the remarks about Consul-General Julie Eadeh, stating, “US diplomats represent our nation and are charged with advancing US interests globally, which is standard practice for diplomats around the world, including in Hong Kong.”
China’s top diplomat in Hong Kong, Mr Cui, stated on October 2 and had called upon Ms Eadeh on September 30, “to lodge solemn representations on her conduct since she assumed duties.”
The statement quoted him saying that Ms Eadeh “to abide by fundamental norms governing international relations, including non-interference in domestic affairs and make a clean break with anti-China forces.”
In the statement, Mr Cui further added “Four Don’ts” requirements, “namely, don’t meet the people whom the CG shouldn’t meet with, don’t collude with anti-China forces, don’t instigate, assist, abet, or fund any activities that undermine stability in Hong Kong, and don’t interfere with national security cases in Hong Kong.”
Ms Eadeh, who assumed the position of consul-general in August, went wrong with the Chinese authorities in 2019 under the first US President Donald Trump administration when official Chinese media attacked US diplomats who had contacts with student leaders of protests that were subsequently shaking Hong Kong at that time.
Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao ran a picture of a US diplomat, whom it described as Ms Eadeh, who was then with the political section of the consulate at the time, conversing with student leaders in the lobby of a luxury hotel.
The State Department condemned the Chinese authorities who were leaking photos of a diplomat and the names of his children, terming it as the action of a “thuggish regime” that had gone beyond being “irresponsible to dangerous”.
The ongoing exchange comes at a delicate point in US-China relations, with Mr Trump aiming to finalize a large-scale trade agreement with the biggest economic and geopolitical opponent of Washington, and he is expected to meet his counterpart, Xi Jinping, towards the end of October.
There was no immediate reply to a request for comment by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
