A US States Department spokesperson referred to China as a “thuggish regime” after pro-Beijing media published the personal details of US diplomat Julie Eadeh — including the names of her children — following her meeting with Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong on Tuesday.
Eadeh had met with Wong, one of the figureheads of the 2014 Umbrella Movement and a co-founder of the Demosisto political party, on Tuesday, prompting China’s Foreign Ministry to issue a formal complaint, calling on the US to “stop sending wrong messages to lawbreakers and advocates of violence, immediately stop intervening in Hong Kong affairs, and don’t stray further on the wrong path.”
“I don’t think that leaking an American diplomat’s private information, pictures, names of their children, I don’t think that is a formal protest, that is what a thuggish regime would do,” State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said at a news briefing in Washington, explaining that the meeting between Eadeh and Wong was routine.
“American diplomats meet with formal government officials, we meet with opposition protesters, not just in Hong Kong or China. I mean, this literally happens in every single country in which an American embassy is present,” she said. “So our diplomat was doing her job and we commend her for her work.”
Pro-Beijing publications Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao reported that “some netizens discovered that Demosisto leaders Joshua Wong and Nathan Law Kwun-chung were discussing something with a foreign woman at 5:30pm on Tuesday at the JW Marriott Hotel in Admiralty.”
After the meeting, Ta Kung Pao published a piece detailing Eadeh’s “so-called diplomatic career,” describing her as a “seditious expert” and revealing her husband’s background and photo, as well as her children’s names.
Wong issued a statement following the reports, scoffing at claims of collusion and saying he was meeting with Eadeh to discuss the US-Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, and to urge the US to stop importing tear gas and rubber bullets to Hong Kong.
The US-Hong Kong Human Right and Democracy Act is a US bill that, if passed, would allow the US to place sanctions on Hong Kong officials found complicit in acts of human rights violation. These sanctions include freezing their US-based assets and denying them entry into the US.
The Chinese central government and their pro-Beijing counterparts in Hong Kong have long blamed “foreign influences” for the widespread protests that have wracked the city for the past two months. Some have even circulated images of Westerners at protests, describing them as “CIA agents” or “foreign commanders” in a bid to reinforce the notion that “external forces” were responsible for the social unrest.
Some iteration of that mindset appeared to be on display yesterday, when pro-Beijing lawmakers Ip Kwok-him and Regina Ip both espoused their belief in the presence of a shadowy mastermind behind the protests on the D100 radio talk show.
“One of the classic moments I remember is when the protesters apologized for blocking the elevators at the Immigration Department. They even bowed to the people they inconvenienced. To me that is an extremely intelligent strategy,” Ip Kwok-him said on the show, offering purporting evidence of a mastermind.
“Even the protesters’ protective clothing is the complete equivalent of anti-riot police gear. Look at their black clothes and helmets, they’re not just normal bike helmets,” he added.
The radio host, in response, pointed out that the yellow hard hats used by protesters were readily available in common hardware stores.
Lawmaker Regina Ip, meanwhile, said that she believed there was a powerful foreign force — a sophisticated “super boss” — who has the ultimate hand in the protests.
“From my observations, there has to be a super boss who is coordinating all the protests. The leader knows how to use technology like LIHKG, Telegram and even Airdrop, causing a nuisance for the police,” Regina Ip said.
“Well, all the youngsters these days know how to use these apps, including me,” the host chimed in. “Who do you think this ‘super boss’ is then?”
“I don’t have any evidence,” Ip replied.
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