Mike Pompeo lambasts China for arresting 12 Hong Kong residents, calls for release

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on December 19 called for the release of 12 Hong Kong activists who were detained in China for fleeing to Taiwan. In a Twitter post, the top US diplomat asserted that the only crime of the detainees was to "flee tyranny." 

Pompeo also accused the Chinese government of "turning Hong Kong into East Berlin of yesteryear". Comparing conditions to that in Eastern Germany during the cold war, he wrote that the Chinese government was preventing people from "siking freedom elsewhere". Since the imposition of the National Security Law in Hong Kong earlier this year, the Chinese government has arrested hundreds of city dwellers. 

Read: US Senator Ted Cruz Dismisses Last-minute Attempt By Senators To Help Hong Kong

As many as 12 people were arrested on August 23 after they were caught entering the mainland Chinese water.  All of them have been accused of committing crimes in the anti-govt protests being held in Hong Kong since 2019. A report by a Hong Kong media outlet stated that one of the arrested is Andy Li, a pro-democracy activist. 

Read: Pompeo Calls For Jimmy Lai's Release, Says 'Hong Kong Becoming China-run Communist City'

Pompeo slams China for the imprisonment of Jimmy Lai

Last week, Mike Pompeo slammed China for the imprisonment of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai under the controversial security law. He said that Hong Kong is becoming just another Chinese-run Communist city as he called for the immediate release of Jimmy Lai. Pompeo said that Hong Kong's National Security Law is making a mockery of justice and is punishing Jimmy Lai for speaking the truth about the Communist Party of China. 

Read:UK Home Secretary Meets With Exiled Hong Kong Activist

"Jimmy Lai is a true patriot.  He cares deeply about the people of Hong Kong, as does our administration.  This is another example where General Secretary Xi Jinping broke a promise.  He made a 50-year commitment for freedom for the people of Hong Kong and he’s now bashed it.  He’s now taken it away with his national security law that caused the imprisonment of Jimmy Lai, who was simply trying to speak about the basic rights for the people of Hong Kong," Pompeo said while speaking with Rob Schmitt of Newsmax. 

Read: Biden's Proposed NSA Jake Sullivan 'deeply Concerned' About Hong Kong Crackdown

(With Agency Inputs)