Just don't mention Snowden: Hong Kong's justice secretary Rimsky Yuen 'charm offensive' in New York and Washington has conditions

Just weeks after President Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States, Hong Kong's justice secretary will visit New York and Washington this week to deliver a hard-sell of the city's legal prowess while riding the momentum of Beijing's global "charm offensive".

But one subject not on the table is Hong Kong's controversial handling of an extradition request by the US for fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden in June 2013 . "The issue as mentioned is not on the agenda," a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said last night.

Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung lands in New York on Wednesday evening local time. A spokeswoman said the trip would promote the city as "an international legal and dispute resolution services centre in the Asia-Pacific region and update the local community on developments".

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Jean-Philippe Béja, an expert on China's global relations at the Centre for International Studies and Research at Sciences Po in Paris, said the significance of Yuen's trip is "for sure, part of the charm offensive launched by Xi."

Yuen's eight-day visit will start with a talk at Columbia University on the topic of the Basic Law under the "one country, two systems" principle, with a similar address to the National Committee on US-China Relations.

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"[Yuen's trip] means to 'explain' the new interpretation of the 'one country, two systems' formula," Beja said, "and, very much in line with Beijing's and Hong Kong government's consistent attitude, to tell Western countries that it still works in the financial and economic fields."