Condemning the Hong Kong Government’s Latest Round of Bounties on Individuals Exercising Freedom of Expression

The United States condemns the Hong Kong government’s July 25 announcement of new arrest warrants and bounties targeting 15 additional overseas activists, including U.S.-based individuals.  The extraterritorial targeting of Hong Kongers who are exercising their fundamental freedoms is a form of transnational repression. We will not tolerate the Hong Kong government’s attempts to apply its national security laws to silence or intimidate Americans or anyone on U.S. soil.

With this new round of arrest warrants and bounties, the Hong Kong government continues to erode the autonomy that Beijing itself promised to the people of Hong Kong following the 1997 handover. Freedom of speech and political discourse are core American values, which the Trump Administration will continue to defend.