AG Barr decries arrests of Hong Kong democracy protesters

The Trump administration is using the weekend arrests of high-profile democracy protesters in Hong Kong to escalate its criticism of China for its conduct during the pandemic.

Attorney General William Barr issued a statement late Saturday decrying the arrests, which included former lawmakers and charges for protests dating back to last summer.

"I condemn the latest assault on the rule of law and the liberty of the people of Hong Kong," Barr said. "These events show how antithetical the values of the Chinese Communist Party are to those we share in Western liberal democracies. 

Barr tied the arrests to other recent criticisms of China, including concerns about espionage, failure to alert the world about coronavirus and propaganda efforts to falsely blame U.S. soldiers for the start of the pandemic.

"These actions — along with its malign influence activity and industrial espionage here in the United States — demonstrate once again that the Chinese Communist Party cannot be trusted," he said.

The high-profile round-up Saturday rattled the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, and signaled Beijing is taking even a harder line against Hong Kong, a semiautonomous city ruled by China and championed by the West.

In all, 15 leading activists and former lawmakers in Hong Kong were arrested on charges stemming for protests that occurred last August. The timing during a pandemic further added to criticisms from the West.

Among those reportedly arrested were former lawmakers Albert Ho, Lee Cheuk-yan and Leung Kwok-hung, activist lawyers Margaret Ng and Martin Lee and media owner Jimmy Lai.