HONG KONG: Hong Kong tried on Tuesday (Jan 21) to reset its relationship with new US President Donald Trump but sent mixed messages by also condemning “malicious” comments by his former deputy about jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai.
Chief executive John Lee said he hoped for a “good starting point” for Hong Kong-US ties, which frayed during a US-China trade war that began in Trump’s first term.
“There are a lot of commonalities and common interests between Hong Kong and the US, and with the new president in office, I hope to see that there will be good efforts to promote positive relations,” Lee told reporters.
However, an official later told AFP that the Hong Kong administration “disapproves of and condemns” recent comments about Lai made by Trump’s former vice president Mike Pence.
Pence visited Hong Kong last week to speak at an event hosted by UBS bank.
His account on social media platform X later reposted a Wall Street Journal editorial that quoted him as calling for China to release Lai as a “message of good will”.
A government spokesperson said Pence’s comments were intended “to influence the fairness of the trial with malicious intent”.
This was “a shameless interference with the course of justice and on Hong Kong’s righteous efforts in safeguarding national security”.
US politicians should not “make use of business activities for political manipulation in a vain attempt to challenge the rule of law in Hong Kong”, the spokesperson said.
