Washington, DC - Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State: "It has recently come to my attention that the Chinese government has threatened to interfere with the work of American journalists in Hong Kong.

These journalists are members of a free press, not propaganda cadres, and their valuable reporting informs Chinese citizens and the world. Any decision impinging on Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms as guaranteed under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law would inevitably impact our assessment of One Country, Two Systems and the status of the territory.