US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday July 14 that he is terminating the preferential economic regime granted by the United States to Hong Kong and that he has also signed a law providing for sanctions against repression in Chinese territory . These measures respond to China’s imposition of a national security law.
“Today, I signed a law and a decree to make accountable to China because of its repression of the people of Hong Kong”said the President at a rambling press conference during which he also repeatedly attacked his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden.
The Hong Kong Self-Government Law, approved unanimously by Congress, “Gives my administration powerful new tools for holding individuals and entities involved in the suppression of freedoms in Hong Kong to account”, said Trump.
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Muzzle the opposition
This law targets not only Chinese officials but also the Hong Kong police, by obligatorily triggering sanctions against those who are identified as working to restrict freedoms. It also penalizes the banks which, through their funding, would contribute to the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy.
China’s national security law has led, according to its critics, to an unprecedented decline in freedoms since the handover of Hong Kong to China by the United Kingdom in 1997. For the United States, as for other western countries, is to muzzle the opposition after the monster demonstrations last year, which aimed to denounce the influence of the government.
“I also signed a decree ending preferential treatment for Hong Kong”, he said. “Hong Kong will be treated like China: no special privilege, no special economic treatment and no exports of sensitive technologies”, he added.
Brain hemorrhage in Hong Kong
The Republican billionaire said that Beijing’s control over Hong Kong marked the end of the territory’s economic power. “We have lost a very serious competitor”, he added. He also predicted a brain hemorrhage in Hong Kong. “Their freedom has been taken away from them (…), many people are going to leave. “
US Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo on Tuesday praised parties in the pro-democracy camp in Hong Kong for the primaries held the day before, calling for parliamentary elections “Free and just” in September, when Beijing called these primaries “Serious provocation”.
The day before, the American secretary of state had warned that the United States considered Beijing’s land claims in the South China Sea as “Illegal”. While the United States has so far refrained from taking a position in the territorial disputes in this region, contenting itself with asserting the “Freedom of navigation”, Mr. Pompeo explicitly took part for the states bordering on China.
A victory in the fight against Huawei
The United States has obtained a victory in its fight against the Chinese telecom giant Huawei, which they accuse of spying in the pay of Beijing: the United Kingdom announced Tuesday that it would purge its 5G network of all equipment produced by Huawei due to a risk to the security of the country.
Last week, the United States announced that it would refuse visas to three senior Chinese officials accused of orchestrating the crackdown on Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, a vast region in northwest China.
In response, Beijing decided to sanction three Republican parliamentarians among the most critical of the Chinese regime: Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, former candidate for the presidential primaries, and the representative Chris Smith.
