By Dr. Kevin Lau
Last Friday, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee concluded his trip to Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia last Friday. While this was a positive development, it was overshadowed by reports that he may not be invited to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting. Despite the disappointing rumors, John Lee responded directly and forcefully, he stood up straight because the truth of this matter was on his side, not on the side of the United States.
Established in 1989, APEC is a forum consisting of 21 member economies that promote economic growth, cooperation, trade, and investment in the region. APEC members hold an annual "APEC Informal Leaders' Retreat" to discuss strategic proposals put forth by the "ministerial meeting" and "business summit," and then announce the official work direction in the "informal meeting of APEC leaders declaration." This year's meeting has been planned to be held in San Francisco from November 15 to 17, but The Washington Post recently reported that the White House has decided to ban Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee from attending the meeting.
In response to this news, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China has expressed strong opposition and has lodged a stern protest. Of course, the Ministry's opposition is justified. Hong Kong has been a member of APEC since November 1991, and all previous Chief Executives have attended relevant meetings. Last November, John Lee attended the 29th "APEC Informal Leaders' Retreat" in Bangkok, Thailand.
In fact, APEC, as an independent organization, has its own guidelines, practices, and rules. Every year, any country or economy that acts as the host will invite the leaders of member economies to attend the event according to relevant practices. Moreover, the host is responsible for providing convenience for attendees. Therefore, the Washington decision to ban John Lee from attending the meeting is clearly flouting APEC's established guidelines and procedures over the years.
When the third ministerial meeting of APEC was held in South Korea in November 1991, the "Seoul Declaration" was adopted, which officially confirmed the purpose, scope of work, operational mode, organizational structure, participation model, and prospects of APEC. According to the "Seoul Declaration," the goal of APEC is to promote regional growth and development for the benefit of the people in the region, and its purpose is to promote economic complementarity, encourage the flow of goods, services, capital, and technology, and develop and strengthen the multilateral trading system to reduce trade and investment barriers.
It is clear that the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation organization is an economic organization in nature. Discussions on economics should be focused on economic cooperation. Using the sanctions imposed on former Hong Kong Security Bureau Secretary John Lee in 2020 as a reason to refuse to invite him to the APEC meeting in November is completely irrelevant to economic cooperation. Moreover, the US's decision to politicize the economic and trade conference is a very bad precedent and should not be encouraged.
APEC is a regional economic cooperation organization that does not affiliate to any country or region. The 30th "APEC Informal Leaders' Retreat" happens to be held in San Francisco this time, so the United States is only the rotating host of this meeting, not the "master" or "owner" of APEC. In other words, theoretically, the United States has no right to prevent John Lee from attending the meeting, and its decision to do so is clearly a case of "Disregarding established rules and abusing public power."
The author is a specialist in radiology with a Master of Public Health from the University of Hong Kong, and an adviser of Our Hong Kong Foundation.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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