Aides have been encouraging President Trump to voice his support for pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong, but he has so far refused, several people familiar with the matter told Politico on Wednesday.
Under Chinese rule since 1997, Hong Kong is supposed to be governed under the "one country, two systems" policy, but protesters say Beijing is trying to assert more control over all aspects of life. China has accused the protesters of committing acts of terror.
People with knowledge of the matter told Politico Trump is only concerned with trade negotiations, and doesn't want to say anything negative about Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Trump also had a phone conversation with Xi prior to the G-20 summit in June, three people familiar with the call told Politico, and Trump promised Xi he would not condemn the Chinese government over a crackdown in Hong Kong, saying it was an internal matter.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Trump tweeted on Wednesday evening that Xi is "a great leader who very much has the respect of his people," and if he "wants to quickly and humanely solve the Hong Kong problem, he can do it. Personal meeting?"
-
August 23 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday's political cartoons include deficit dimness, steamroller-in-chief, and more
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purgeCartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
