U.S. and Hong Kong (2002)

State Department Daily Briefing, April 15, 2002

Following is the State Department transcript:

(begin transcript)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2002
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
1:20 p.m. EDT

Briefer: Philip T. Reeker, Deputy Spokesman

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

QUESTION: On the weekend, Harry Wu, the US citizen, was refused entrance to Hong Kong. Do you have any reaction to this? The Department -- I think it was about three or four months ago, in a report on Hong Kong's autonomy to Congress -- gave a fairly glowing report.

MR. REEKER: I think it was more recent than that.

QUESTION: Was it? Whatever. Anyway, what does this latest instance say about Hong Kong's independence or autonomy from Beijing?

MR. REEKER: First of all, I can't provide a lot of information on the American involved in the situation because, as you know, we have a Privacy Act, and under consideration to that I can't go into more details. But we are concerned that Hong Kong denied entry to an American citizen who was traveling to Hong Kong, and we have asked the Hong Kong Government for clarification of the specific grounds on which that American citizen was denied entry.

Certainly we recognize the right of the Hong Kong Government to make decisions on entry and exit, based on its own policies and procedures, but at the same time, it is important that Hong Kong's autonomy be maintained, that it uphold its constitutional principles and maintain all the rights and freedoms described in the basic law, and of course in international human rights documents to which the Hong Kong Government has subscribed.

It is also important to Hong Kong's success as an international city that it remain open to the traveling public, and the use of denials to entry could have the effect of limiting freedom of association and restricting the flow of ideas.

So we will communicate these concerns to the Hong Kong Government. Our Consulate General in Hong Kong had been notified by the Hong Kong immigration department of this particular case. And as I said, we will express our concerns there and hope that they would address those in their own manner.

QUESTION: Is this something, which you purely raised with the Hong Kong authorities, or does it come up in the context of your discussions with China?

MR. REEKER: As far as I know, we raised this with Hong Kong authorities. They are the ones that notified us of this denial of entry to an American citizen. I just expressed what our concerns would be based on simply those facts. And we raised it with Hong Kong authorities and we will look to them to clarify the special grounds on which, in this case, the American citizen was denied entry. And we would want to look at that before I would have anything further.

Nick.

QUESTION: A clarification on that. Any US embassy or consulate can deny a visa to any citizens of any countries without explanation whatsoever. What's the difference now that we want an explanation from Hong Kong about just an American citizen?

MR. REEKER: We have simply asked for clarification. They notified us that they had denied an American citizen entry based on the agreement that -- in terms of the basic law and international human rights documents to which the Hong Kong Government has subscribed. As I said, it is an important international city that remains and needs to remain open to the traveling public, we think, for its success. And if there are specific denials of entry, we think that could have a bad effect on that, which is why we have raised it, and simply looking for clarification.

Other questions on this or other subjects?

(No response.)

MR. REEKER: Then, thank you very much.

(The briefing was concluded at 2:15 p.m. EDT)

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