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Pompeo Vows to Protect Hong Kong Activists Sought Abroad

Agence France-Presse

   WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday vowed to
   protect Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigners who have fled the city and
   denounced China after Beijing said that police had ordered the arrests
   of overseas activists.

   "The Chinese Communist Party cannot tolerate the free thinking of its
   own people, and increasingly is trying to extend its reach outside
   China's borders," Pompeo said in a statement.

   "The United States and other free nations will continue to protect our
   peoples from the long arm of Beijing's authoritarianism."

   In an accompanying tweet, Pompeo said that Washington "condemns the
   Chinese Communist Party's attempt to prosecute pro-democracy advocates
   resident outside of China, including in the United States."

   Chinese state media said late Friday that Hong Kong police had ordered
   the arrest of six pro-democracy activists living in exile on suspicion
   of violating a tough new security law.

   One of them, Samuel Chu, head of the Washington-based Hong Kong
   Democracy Council, wrote on Twitter that he has been a U.S. citizen for
   25 years.

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