hkskyline
February 10th, 2012, 03:16 AM
US envoy positive over visa waivers
The Standard
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Hong Kong's quest for US visa waivers for SAR passport holders has received a positive response from the top American diplomat here.
Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam- keun broached the idea for a visa waiver when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the SAR in July, said US consul- general Stephen Young.
In late September, a Hong Kong delegation met with the US State Department and Department of Homeland Security.
"There is a very clear and present understanding of Hong Kong's interest in the visa waiver program and they also have an understanding of the nature of that program," Young said.
Tsang late last month said he discussed the issue with Clinton at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hawaii.
The United States is still absorbing the first tranche of countries awarded waivers a few years ago and there is currently no plan for a second tranche, Young said.
"I think that at least personally I would hope Hong Kong would be a good candidate when consideration of broadening that program occurs," he told a media briefing yesterday.
Young also raised concerns about a series of local news reports insinuating that some of the things the US consulate in Hong Kong does are incompatible with the role of diplomats or diplomatic practice.
"What we do here in Hong Kong is fully consistent with normal diplomatic practices anywhere in the world," he said.
"It is consistent with the same practices that Chinese diplomats exercise in the United States and other parts of the world."
On universal suffrage for Hong Kong, Young said he is confident this will happen in 2017.
"My confidence is highlighted by the fact that universal suffrage has been enshrined in the Basic Law and reaffirmed in the National People's Congress," he said.
It will be important to see what Hong Kong's next leader will do "in a concrete sense to create the framework for a process that selects the next chief executive in 2017 through universal suffrage and at Legco in 2020."
Young welcomed the current investigations of vote-rigging allegations as part of assuring the world that the process is "transparent, fair and equal."
On the next chief executive, Young said: "We work with whichever government or whichever leader is selected here or any other place, whether the selection is fully democratic or very undemocratic as the case may be."
The Standard
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Hong Kong's quest for US visa waivers for SAR passport holders has received a positive response from the top American diplomat here.
Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam- keun broached the idea for a visa waiver when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the SAR in July, said US consul- general Stephen Young.
In late September, a Hong Kong delegation met with the US State Department and Department of Homeland Security.
"There is a very clear and present understanding of Hong Kong's interest in the visa waiver program and they also have an understanding of the nature of that program," Young said.
Tsang late last month said he discussed the issue with Clinton at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hawaii.
The United States is still absorbing the first tranche of countries awarded waivers a few years ago and there is currently no plan for a second tranche, Young said.
"I think that at least personally I would hope Hong Kong would be a good candidate when consideration of broadening that program occurs," he told a media briefing yesterday.
Young also raised concerns about a series of local news reports insinuating that some of the things the US consulate in Hong Kong does are incompatible with the role of diplomats or diplomatic practice.
"What we do here in Hong Kong is fully consistent with normal diplomatic practices anywhere in the world," he said.
"It is consistent with the same practices that Chinese diplomats exercise in the United States and other parts of the world."
On universal suffrage for Hong Kong, Young said he is confident this will happen in 2017.
"My confidence is highlighted by the fact that universal suffrage has been enshrined in the Basic Law and reaffirmed in the National People's Congress," he said.
It will be important to see what Hong Kong's next leader will do "in a concrete sense to create the framework for a process that selects the next chief executive in 2017 through universal suffrage and at Legco in 2020."
Young welcomed the current investigations of vote-rigging allegations as part of assuring the world that the process is "transparent, fair and equal."
On the next chief executive, Young said: "We work with whichever government or whichever leader is selected here or any other place, whether the selection is fully democratic or very undemocratic as the case may be."