More Than 50 Groups and Organizations Urge Biden to Deny Hong Kong Leader to Attend APEC Summit

President Joe Biden walks across the South Lawn as he leaves the White House on June 29, 2023. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Next Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit will be held in San Francisco in November. In recent months, many groups and organizations have urged the U.S. government to prohibit the sanctioned Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu from entering the United States.

The Hong Kong Democracy Council, Hong Kong Watch, and scores of overseas Hongkonger groups, as well as Uyghur and Tibetan organizations, a total of more than 50, jointly signed an open letter on June 30, calling on the U.S. government to make a prompt and clear statement that Lee is not allowed to attend the APEC summit.

The open letter stated that under no circumstances should Lee, “a U.S.-sanctioned human rights abuser,” be allowed to set foot on American soil. And if that were to occur, it would render the “sanctions on him effectively meaningless and damage confidence in the U.S. commitment to freedom and human rights in Hong Kong.”

The letter also raised concerns that any temporary or permanent waiving of sanctions on Lee would set a troubling precedent for future dealings with human rights abusers, opening the door for further exceptions to be made.

It would also point to signs that the West’s resolve on Hong Kong is weakening, such as recent high-level meetings with ministers in the Hong Kong government. And they believe that “this makes it all the more important for the United States to stand firm and set a good example to the rest of the world.”

The open letter pointed out that when Lee was the Secretary for Security in 2019, the Hong Kong police used excessive force to crush mass protests and arbitrarily arrested more than 10,000 citizens. Since Lee took office as chief executive, he has severely restricted the freedom of speech, association, and assembly and “relentlessly attacks” the rule of law.” More than 1,500 political prisoners languish behind bars in Hong Kong, and the number continues to rise.

Precedents of No Invitation Exist

The open letter emphasizes that there are strong precedents for not inviting Lee. Last year, the Biden administration excluded Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela from the Summit of the Americas over concerns about human rights abuses and a lack of democracy in those countries.

As for APEC specifically, the letter pointed out that it is already the case that not all leaders attended. For example, the president of Taiwan was never invited. The fact that Hong Kong, as a place under the complete control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and that mainland China will participate in the meeting “makes no justification for Lee’s attendance, especially given that he is sanctioned.”

Opposition from Multi-Party Lawmakers in Congress

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman hinted in February that the U.S. might drop its entry restrictions on Lee. But her remarks caused an uproar among lawmakers from both parties. Four bipartisan members of the U.S. Congress jointly signed a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month, expressing their opposition to inviting John Lee to attend APEC.

Later, the U.S. State Department revised part of a statement submitted to Congress. The revised edition stated that it did not commit to inviting Hong Kong Chief Executive Lee Ka-chiu to the United States to attend the next APEC summit.