Sanctioned Hong Kong leader John Lee did get an ‘invitation’ to Apec meeting in San Francisco but will his staying away help free city from cross hairs of US-China tensions?

But Ip said it would be “premature to draw an optimistic conclusion” that it was a sign Hong Kong would be less caught up in the whirl of US-China dynamics and be a distraction to bigger problems to be resolved by both sides.

‘Scheduling issues’ to keep Hong Kong leader John Lee from Apec summit in US

Beijing and Washington were taking a “pragmatic approach” in the arrangement to steer clear of the sanctions placed on Lee while ensuring Hong Kong was represented, she added.

A government spokesman on Wednesday made clear that Lee had received an invitation “personally”. A source earlier told the Post that the US and China had considered having Lee attend the event with an invitation extended on a one-off basis bypassing the sanctions, but the idea was shelved.

The government’s statement ended months of speculation on whether Lee would be able to attend the summit given that he had been sanctioned by the US after the imposition of the national security law in June 2020.

The decision came mere hours before the White House confirmed a summit between state leaders Xi and Joe Biden would take place this month.

Chinese University international relations scholar Wilson Chan Wai-shun said it was clear that both the US and China wanted better bilateral economic ties since pandemic restrictions were eased, but there remained many points of contention in the fraught relationship.

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Hong Kong, as a financial hub and a gateway to mainland China, could serve as a platform for Americans who hoped to do more business there, thus sending the finance minister – more relevant to the tasks at hand and who was not sanctioned – to the Apec summit, was normal diplomatic practice that would not put the city in focus, he said.

“Both China and the United States know that political tension is one thing, and economic cooperation is another matter. In fact, the United States wants to strengthen its economic security against China through many different policies,” he said.

“Both sides are seeking a cordial and stable relationship in this area.”

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But when it came to political matters, such as the sanctioning of officials and the rights of jailed activists, the US Congress and even the White House would still use the issues as bargaining chips to earn Americans’ support and media coverage. Hong Kong therefore could still be caught in the cross hairs.

“Is Hong Kong no longer a contentious issue after Lee did not insist on attending? Obviously not. The United States has a few ‘pressure points’ on China issues, including Taiwan and Xinjiang matters, and after 2019, the Hong Kong ‘human rights’ issues. It’s always there until there are some structural changes from top down,” Chan said.

Hong Kong has been caught in the middle of worsening US-China relations in recent years, especially after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the city in 2020 in response to the social unrest of the previous year.

The US then slapped sanctions on 11 mainland and Hong Kong officials – including Lee – for their role in “undermining the autonomy [and] restricting the freedom of expression or assembly of Hong Kong citizens”.

US congressmen and officials became increasingly vocal in their criticism of Hong Kong’s political and legal system, prompting Beijing and the city government to hit back.

The US State Department has also continued to advise Americans to exercise increased caution when visiting Hong Kong due to “arbitrary enforcement of local laws,” with a particular emphasis on the national security law.

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But a glimmer of improvement in bilateral relations was seen in recent months, with a number of top US officials making trips to Beijing as well as Hong Kong, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken visiting the country’s capital in June, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen doing so in July.

“It’s a good thing that we have seen the steady arrival of senior US officials,” Ip said.

“The fact that they are coming and not worrying about the national security law speaks volumes about the baseless accusation a couple of years ago that Hong Kong was unsafe for Americans to visit.”

China scholar Susan Shirk agreed that more American academics and businesspeople were ramping up their collaborations and exchanges with counterparts in Hong Kong.

“They value these people-to-people ties and want to sustain them despite Beijing’s shrinking of Hong Kong’s autonomy,” said Shirk, the founding chair of the University of California, San Diego’s 21st Century China Centre.

Willy Lam Wo-lap, a senior fellow on China at the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation think tank, said having a finance official represent Hong Kong at the Apec meeting would allow a better focus on economics and trade instead of politics, but there were no signs of Washington rolling back its unfavourable policies towards the city.

“It is still very difficult for Hong Kong to extricate itself as a point of friction between the US and China,” Lam said.

“We have to wait to see whether there is substantial agreement between Biden and Xi at the Apec summit.”

Brian Wong Yue-shun, an assistant professor of political philosophy at the University of Hong Kong, on the other hand expressed confidence in Chan’s ability to step up to the task based on the finance chief’s track record of international engagement.

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Wong said the Apec arrangement would not make a difference to the city’s standing in the US-China relationship, but “it does signal that Hong Kong remains undeterred in engaging and working with international counterparts in keeping communication lines open”.

Lau Siu-kai, a consultant for semi-official Beijing think tank the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said sending the financial secretary in lieu of Lee might draw a more muted response from US politicians.

But the former government adviser cautioned that the Hong Kong delegation might still have to face protesting dissidents and their supporters in San Francisco, and the lower-ranking Chan might find it harder to line up meetings on the sidelines with other heads of Apec economies.

While Washington was unlikely to lift existing sanctions, Lau said, Hong Kong “could take a breather for a while” if the US stopped ramping up the pressure on the city as a result of the state leaders’ meetings.