Beijing – China said Tuesday that it will retaliate after the United States announced that it was ending the export of sensitive military items to Hong Kong in response to Beijing imposing a controversial national security law on the semi-autonomous city. China’s rubber stamp parliament formally approved the general law for Hong Kong on Tuesday, which critics and many Western governments fear will stifle the freedoms of the global financial center and drain its autonomy.
“Attempts by the United States to obstruct China to advance Hong Kong’s national security legislation through so-called sanctions will never prevail,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. “In response to the illicit actions of the United States, China will take the necessary countermeasures.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that the United States was ending the export of sensitive military items to Hong Kong because Washington “can no longer distinguish between the export of controlled items to Hong Kong or mainland China.”
The State Department will finalize the export of all items on its controlled list to Hong Kong, which includes products ranging from advanced ammunition to military equipment that already require approval from the White House and Congress.
The new law
Tam Yiu-Chung, the only official representative for Hong Kong on the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, confirmed that the law had been passed on Tuesday. China’s rubber stamp congress first passed the controversial new security law in late May.
As reported by CBS News correspondent Ramy Inocencio, they were a direct reaction from Beijing to the pro-democracy movement in the southern semi-autonomous region, which Beijing blames for foreign interference.
Even before the law became official, the US government declared that Beijing violated the agreement reached in the 1990s that gives Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy from mainland China.
The law formally prohibits treason, secession, sedition, and subversion in Hong Kong. Speaking Tuesday, Tam said violators of the secret law would not face the death sentence, but did not elaborate on how the measures would be enforced. He only told reporters that China hoped “the law will serve as a deterrent to prevent people from causing problems.”
Many Hong Kong people, along with the US and other foreign powers, fear that China will use the law to severely erode the freedoms Hong Kong has enjoyed under the “one country, two systems” framework since it was returned to China in 1997 after decades of British colonial rule.
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Under that system, which provided for freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and an independent judicial system in Hong Kong until 2047, the region has become a global financial power. The framework has had significant economic benefits not only for Hong Kong residents, but also for the US and China, allowing trade and commerce with few limitations.
Beijing-appointed Hong Kong Administrator Carrie Lam said Tuesday that the region’s police force would still carry out prosecutions and promised that “differences of opinion” would still be respected, in an attempt to quell an angry reaction. within the city as pro-democracy activists called it. for protests on Wednesday.
Lam insisted that the new national security law would not infringe Hong Kong’s independent judiciary.
Hong Kong Special Status
Last year, the United States Congress, during the height of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy riots, passed the Hong Kong Law on Human Rights and Democracy. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was required to certify the city’s autonomous state, under the Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992, every year.
In late May, just before the People’s Congress passed the new law, he said the state could no longer be confirmed, effectively removing the region’s special trade status, which could force it to start trading with the U.S. Under much stricter regulations that apply to Mainland China.
Pompeo’s statement opened the door for the White House to remove America’s special economic and trade ties to the city, with the goal of causing pain to China and entities linked to the Communist Party. Washington has yet to describe the details of any punitive action it may take, in addition to the sale stoppage of military items announced Monday.
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