Sanctioned Hong Kong leader John Lee did get a ‘personal invite’ to Apec but will his absence spare city from cross hairs of US-China tensions?

Government spokesman makes clear John Lee received an invitation ‘personally’ after earlier announcement that chief executive would not attend Apec summit this month

Exco convenor Regina Ip says arrangement ensures Hong Kong has a seat at the leaders’ meeting without drawing reference again to stigma attached to sanctions

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The Apec leaders’ meeting will be held in San Francisco in mid-November. Photo: AP

Published: 12:30pm, 2 Nov 2023Updated: 4:22pm, 2 Nov 2023

Hong Kong is trying not to be a source of friction as Beijing and Washington appear to want to improve bilateral ties, observers and politicians have said, as seen by the way the US-sanctioned city leader framed his planned absence at the Apec summit in San Francisco.

If the city had continued to lobby or attach conditions for Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s visit, it would have made for an awkward situation completely unnecessary ahead of an election year in the United States, they said.

China and the US, meanwhile, were being pragmatic in “agreeing” to let the city’s finance minister, rather than Lee, attend the meeting, they added, as it would have been odd not to have Hong Kong represented as Chinese President Xi Jinping had confirmed his attendance at the summit.

Chief Executive John Lee will not attend the San Francisco meeting. Photo: Dickson Lee

“This arrangement will ensure Hong Kong has a seat at the leaders’ meeting without drawing reference again to all the stigma attached to the sanctions,” Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, convenor of the city’s key decision-making Executive Council, told the Post.

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.

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.