Hanscom Smith, consul general to Hong Kong and Macau from 2019 to 2022, is a senior fellow at Yale University’s Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs and a senior associate at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
The best solution to Hong Kong’s challenges is to trust the city to work according to the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. This should not be controversial because it reflects options on the table since 1997.
The Media Freedom Coalition and Unesco’s Global Media Defence Fund are part of global efforts to address the impunity over attacks against journalists and promote media freedom.
The Human Rights and Democracy Act is an extension of the Hong Kong Policy Act, the basis of the US approach since 1992. The US believes human rights are universal, and has a long-standing policy that China should honour its agreements on Hong Kong.