(Headline USA) California Gov. Gavin Newsom reportedly refused to meet with a Chinese dissident before or after his October trip to China, where he met with Chinese Communist Party officials, including President Xi Jinping.
Anna Kwok, a Hong Kong activist who has been publicly outspoken against China’s takeover of the former U.K. province, told the bipartisan House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party this week that she sought several meetings with Newsom to share her concerns about China’s human rights abuses.
However, Newsom’s team declined each of her requests, saying the governor was “too busy for us,” Kwok said.
Kwok also highlighted the brutal assaults on Chinese dissidents by pro-CCP supporters in California during last month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in San Francisco. More than 10 anti-China protesters were beaten by counter-protesters, with three ending up hospitalized for serious injuries.
Local law enforcement, however, refused to act, Kwok said, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
“That is just one of the things, you know, that the Chinese government is not afraid of doing on American soil exactly, because they know these perpetrators likely do not really have to pay a price,” she told lawmakers. “They will not be hunted down because law enforcement is basically not equipped enough to do that.”
Newsom has faced backlash for his handling of the APEC meeting, which both Xi and President Joe Biden attended. He admitted the conference was the only reason California officials decided to clean up San Francisco’s streets, saying he had to “raise the bar” for Xi’s visit.
“I know folks are saying, ‘Oh they’re just cleaning up this place because all those fancy leaders are coming to town.’ That’s true, because it’s true,” Newsom said at the time.
“It’s also true for months and months and months before APEC,” he continued. “We’ve been having different conversations and we’ve raised the bar of expectation between the city, the county, and the state and our federal partners.”
The APEC meeting followed a personal trip Newsom made to China, where he reportedly declined to bring up concerns about China’s human rights abuses during his meeting with CCP officials.
