U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Hong Kong pro-democracy leader Martin Lee on Thursday, the State Department said, as Hong Kong activists seek to derail a proposed extradition law pushed by Beijing.

The United States warned in a report on Friday that increased meddling from China in Hong Kong had adversely impacted the city, straining international business confidence in the Asian financial hub.

Proposal to allow suspects wanted by Beijing to be sent across the border would undermine city’s reputation, American group says.

Relations between China and much of the West appear to be moving in reverse. The PRC risks losing its best friends abroad.

Beijing has the power to do most anything that it wants not only in the mainland but also Hong Kong (and Macau). However, prudence counsels for less rather than more.

Recently, the world has witnessed larger typhoons and bigger hurricanes in size and frequency. As climate risks are escalating, efforts to contain collateral damage are eroding. What is needed is joint U.S.-Chinese climate leadership.

On the 26th of March, Hong Kong gained a new leader, the duly elected Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. Despite professing a desire to continue the policies of her predecessor Chief Executive CY Leung, it has noted that Lam has also taken certain steps that bear a similarity to another Chief Executive, Donald Tsang. The question then becomes: will Lam become CY 2.0, or Donald Tsang 2.0?

Despite all the predictions of doom by Western pundits in 1997, Hong Kong has done well since its reversion of sovereignty to China twenty years ago. 

On the first of July, Hong Kong will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its return to China. HKSAR's first chief executive reflects on how far the city has come, where it is today, and what the future may bring.