Hong Kongers in the Bay Area protested against Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary, Paul Chan Mo-po, attending a climate conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, May 29th. They urged American citizens and officials not to trust any promises made by the Chinese Communist Party.
Paul Chan Mo-po visited San Francisco on Monday, May 27th, to participate in the “US China Bay to Bay Dialogue” and the “US-China Local Climate Action High-Level Event.”
At noon that day, the “California-Guangdong Business Matchmaking Conference” took place on the Klamath ferry at Pier 9 in San Francisco. Members of the US Hong Kongers Club gathered outside Pier 9 to protest.
They held banners with slogans such as “FREE HONG KONG,” “Close the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in the US, Sanction Paul Chan Mo-po,” “Free Hong Kong Political Prisoners,” and waved flags that read “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Time,” while chanting slogans like “FREE HONG KONG,” “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Time,” “Don’t trust China (Communists).”
Miss C, a member of the club, stated that the Chinese Communist Party is notorious for lying. The promise of “one country, two systems” in Hong Kong was supposed to remain unchanged for 50 years, but before even half of that time has passed, it has turned into “one country, one system.” She emphasized that they completely violate human rights, the Basic Law, laws, and the constitution. It is important to inform Americans that “the CCP is not trustworthy.” With Hong Kongers unable to speak out in Hong Kong, they must raise their voices as much as possible in San Francisco.
Pro-independence activist, Zheng Yonghua, expressed his disbelief at Paul Chan Mo-po attending an environmental conference in San Francisco, stating, “The CCP is the world’s largest source of pollution.” Several nuclear power plants constructed in Guangdong have already had a significant impact on the local environment. He highlighted the direct discharge of factory wastewater into the Dongjiang River and questioned how the CCP can claim to care about the environment.
Bruce, another participant, criticized the absurdity of Paul Chan Mo-po attending a climate conference. It is widely known that the CCP disregards climate and environmental issues, lacking a proper system for human rights and wastewater treatment. Therefore, his participation in the conference seems particularly absurd.
Passersby at Pier 9 in San Francisco showed support for the protesters, with Leona, a Caucasian woman, expressing her disbelief in the CCP due to its influence on the situation in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, citing “a lot of dirty business happening behind the scenes.” She stressed the importance of distancing oneself from the mainstream media to grasp the truth of what is happening behind the scenes and urged people to inform various levels of American lawmakers about the true face of the CCP to make informed decisions.
According to an article in The National Interest magazine in August 2019, the CCP continuously claims that its “Belt and Road Initiative” is a green project, but this is not the case. The China Development Bank and the China Export-Import Bank allocate nearly 40% of their power spending to coal, leading to a significant rise in pollution. Considering China’s low-quality coal technology, the harmful effects of China’s development financing may be even more severe than visible.
The article also noted that the CCP’s non-fossil fuel projects mainly involve hydroelectric dams rather than wind and solar energy projects, causing environmental damage themselves. China’s hydroelectric projects will have devastating effects on the livelihoods of millions of farmers and fishermen.
Reports indicated that the “US China Bay to Bay Dialogue” local climate action conference was held in Berkeley on the 29th with over 120 representatives from Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau, including Yang Wanming, President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Wang Weizhong, Governor of Guangdong Province, and Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po. California officials from environmental, business, economic development, transportation, and operations departments attended along with Governor Newsom, who participated in high-level exchanges and the announcement of achievements. The conference resulted in 11 agreements reached by both parties.