Hong Kong immigration authorities recently denied Chinese-born, naturalized
American citizen Harry Wu admission into Hong Kong. Wu's rejection and
expulsion was unusual, given Hong Kong's longstanding open-border policy,
especially for Americans, for whom visas are not required.
The problem is that for the past several years, Wu has been a prominent
critic of Chinese labor camps, a subject with which he has first-hand
experience given the 19 years that he served in them. Hong Kong officials
told Wu he was being denied entry because of "safety concerns."
U.S. officials expressed shock and outrage. "This could have the effect of
limiting the freedom of association and the free flow of ideas," exclaimed
U.S. consular spokeswoman Barbara Zigli. U.S. State Department spokesman
Philip Reeker added that the incident "could have a bad effect" on the
freedom and openness that has characterized Hong Kong.
At the same time, however, State Department officials were revoking visas
that had been previously issued to Cuban officials, who were traveling to
the United States to negotiate the purchase of food from South Dakota
farmers. U.S. State Department spokesman Edward Dickens said that it is
long-standing U.S. policy to discourage travel in the United States by
members of the Cuban government.
Wouldn't the old Indian saying "White man speaks with forked tongue" have
been more accurately expressed as, "U.S. government officials speak with
forked tongue"?
