Hong Kong's Growing Blacklist

Kenneth Roth is returning to New York after being stopped in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong government is becoming more active in banning people from coming into the city. Just last week American photographer Matthew Connors was denied entry into Hong Kong after he had come in twice before to cover the anti-government protests. He was detained for four hours and then sent back to New York.

Photographer Matthew Connors wasn't allowed in last week

Another was American academic Dan Garrett was also not allowed to enter Hong Kong in September after he had testified at the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) in Washington DC about the ongoing protests in the city. He had previously visited and lived in Hong Kong for two decades.

Then days before the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in June 2019, US-based exiled student leader Feng Congde was denied entry into Hong Kong and sent back to Tokyo.

Now the latest is the executive director of Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth has been stopped from entering Hong Kong and sent back to New York. He was planning to be here to release a report on Wednesday on the organization's World Report 2020.

In a video message on Twitter recorded from Hong Kong International Airport, Roth explains the report's lead essay says, "the Chinese government is really trying to deliberately undermine the international human rights system, not simply suppress the rights of people at home, but also undermine the ability of anybody else to try to hold China to human rights standards".

Academic Dan Garrett was barred from entering in September

"I had hoped to spotlight Beijing's deepening assault on international efforts to uphold human rights," Roth said. "The refusal to let me enter Hong Kong vividly illustrates the problem."

The former federal prosecutor tried to find out from immigration officers why he was not being allowed to enter Hong Kong, but only replied it was for "immigration reasons" without a valid reason. The city's blacklist seems to be growing longer these days.

Roth says in his video that he will return to New York and hold the press conference there, but "this  episode is just the latest evidence that the Chinese government is doing everything it can to undermine the enforcement of human rights standards". Human Rights Watch has since said the press conference to launch the report has now been cancelled.

Former Tiananmen leader Feng Congde was barred in June

How can the Hong Kong government continue to convince the world that it continues to uphold "one country, two systems" when it bans people like Roth, Garrett, Connors and Feng from entering?

Wonder if Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor will answer that question honestly on Tuesday during her weekly press conference...