China sharply criticized President Trump’s measures on Wednesday to strip Hong Kong of its preferential trade status with the United States and clear the way for further sanctions against officials and companies there, vowing to retaliate with its own punitive measures.
The response from the Foreign Ministry in Beijing promised to continue an eye-for-an-eye pattern of punishments that have accompanied the sharp downward shift in relations between the two countries on a variety of fronts, from trade to technology to human rights.
China quickly criticized Trump’s latest actions, which he announced Tuesday at a press conference at the White House. Those movements, along with their comments, underscored the extent to which relations with Beijing have intertwined with the US presidential election.
Trump said he had issued an executive order revoking the special business status that Hong Kong had enjoyed for more than two decades, following the Chinese government’s imposition of a new national security law. The law went into effect on June 30, and its chilling effect on political liberties in the city, which, according to a formula called “one country, two systems,” is supposed to have a high degree of autonomy from China, has already been evident in a series of arrests and police raids.
Trump also signed legislation, overwhelmingly passed in May by Congress, authorizing the administration to impose sanctions on officials or institutions, including banks, that were seen to have undermined the semi-autonomous state of Hong Kong.
Its executive order, in addition to revoking the territory’s special commercial status, calls for sanctions against people who consider themselves to be involved in a variety of acts in Hong Kong, including arrests made under the new security law and actions that undermine democratic processes or limit media freedoms
Officials in Beijing had clearly anticipated the moves, but nevertheless reacted harshly.
“The law on the United States side maliciously denigrates Hong Kong’s national security legislation, threatens to impose sanctions on China, and seriously violates international law and the basic rules of international relations,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. released on Wednesday morning in China. , not long after Trump finished speaking.
“It is a great interference in the affairs of Hong Kong and the internal affairs of China,” the ministry said.
The impact of the new powers detailed in US law and Trump’s executive order remains to be seen. Congress has authorized similar measures before, only for the administration to delay its enforcement, as it weighed other foreign policy considerations, including Trump’s trade deal with China.
With relations deteriorating and the number of victims of the pandemic increasing in the United States, the administration has acted more aggressively in recent weeks.
When the United States imposed sanctions on four Chinese officials for China’s crackdown on Uighurs and other Muslims in the western Xinjiang region, Beijing responded by announcing travel bans and sanctions on prominent Republican members of Congress.
Lau Siu-kai, the Chinese government’s chief adviser on Hong Kong policy, said the US actions would have a limited effect on Hong Kong and, contrary to the United States’ intention, would lead the territory closer to mainland China.
“The overall damage to Hong Kong and China is fairly minimal and can be absorbed,” said Lau, a former senior Hong Kong government official who is now with the China Association for Hong Kong and Macao Studies.
He said Hong Kong was “increasingly separating itself from the United States and the West, and increasingly attached to China and Asia.”
Others said US actions could have more significant effects by damaging the city’s reputation for openness and rule of law. That could affect both companies and academia.
“The only way we can regain the respect and favorable conditions we deserve is if Beijing delivers on its original promise to the world and the people of Hong Kong, which is the genuine implementation of ‘one country, two systems’ and our high degree of autonomy, ”said James To, a pro-democratic legislator from Hong Kong.
The reports and investigation were contributed by Keith Bradsher and Claire Fu in Beijing and Elaine Yu in Hong Kong.
