State Department Admits Hong Kong Officials for Climate Conference amid Crackdown on Pro-Democracy Movement

The State Department blessed a U.S.-China climate dialogue, held in California on Wednesday, in which Hong Kong officials participated. The U.S.-China High-Level Event on Subnational Climate Action took place on the same day that over a dozen pro-democracy activists were convicted of “subversion” by Hong Kong’s Beijing-controlled judiciary.

Several Hong Kong pro-democracy groups expressed concern that the U.S. government issued a visa to a delegation led by Hong Kong financial secretary Paul Chan to attend the conference and other meetings. Asked for comment yesterday, State did not respond. It also did not respond to National Review’s other questions about the department’s climate diplomacy, including whether it’s subordinating human rights to the administration’s climate agenda.

State’s silence on this comes as the Biden administration has prioritized a quasi-détente with Beijing in recent months.

While Washington has not stepped back from tech-export controls, the strengthening of alliances in the Indo-Pacific, and other policies the Chinese government criticizes, it has also placed an emphasis on seeking cooperation on climate issues and fostering “people-to-people” diplomacy with China.

That has apparently paid off, as the Chinese Communist Party stopped withholding high-level communication on climate and other topics after Xi Jinping met with President Biden in California last year.

At the Wednesday climate conference, hosted by UC Berkeley, California governor Gavin Newsom and Guangdong governor Wang Weizhong addressed the conference in person, while U.S. climate envoy John Podesta and U.S. ambassador to China Nicholas Burns delivered prerecorded remarks to the group via video.

Burns called the gathering “important” and expressed admiration for former California governor Jerry Brown, who leads the institute that organized the conference: “He’s been one of the greatest proponents that America must act on climate change. And he’s been a proponent that the U.S. and China ought to be working together.”

The gathering followed a meeting between Podesta and his Chinese counterpart, Liu Zhenmin, in Washington earlier this month. A joint statement from that meeting said “both sides look forward” to the Berkeley meeting.

The Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries — a Chinese Communist Party foreign-influence agency that the U.S. government has accused of seeking to co-opt U.S. officials — said earlier this year that it would seek to build closer ties between California’s Bay Area, New York City, and the area of southern China comprising Hong Kong, Guangdong, and Macau.

In addition to Chan, Hong Kong education secretary Christine Choi entered the U.S. for visits to schools in Chicago, New York, and New Orleans; she didn’t attend the Berkeley conference. In their statement, the Hong Kong pro-democracy groups said that Choi will “advocate for Hong Kong’s repressive education system to US educators and schoolchildren.”

“Given the severe attack on Hong Kong’s freedoms and autonomy, it is inappropriate and offensive for US businesses and public officials to engage with Chan and Choi at this time,” the statement also said. It was signed by the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, the Hong Kong Democracy Council, Fight for Freedom, and Stand with Hong Kong.

“It is concerning that Chan and Choi have been granted US visas at all,” the groups further said, adding that the State Department announced visa bans applying to “multiple Hong Kong officials” in March.

“These restrictions should have included Chan and Choi, given their key roles in the government,” they said.

State never named the officials it banned in March. For close to three years, the U.S. also has refrained from imposing full blocking sanctions on Hong Kong officials involved in ending the city’s autonomy.