Hong Kong’s government is pushing ahead with a coordinated political influence campaign across the United States, a report by a Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council advocacy group said.
According to the report, the city’s government “has cultivated ties in the U.S. at state and local levels through government organizations and astroturf groups.”
It said the campaign included local and regional politicians, media organizations, think tanks and business communities, and that the effort often flew under the radar of safeguards aimed at curbing foreign influence in U.S. political life.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government coordinated efforts through its Economic and Trade Offices in New York, San Francisco and Washington, to strategically target media, think tanks, and business communities “at the subnational level,” the report said.
The report comes as Bill Yuen, a former official at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, stands trial in the United Kingdom charged with “assisting a foreign intelligence service,” and “foreign interference,” under the National Security Act 2023.
U.S.-based democracy activists called in May 2024 for Hong Kong’s offices to be shut down, saying they serve as intelligence outposts controlled by the Chinese government.
