President Trump announced on Friday that he has directed his administration to “begin the process of eliminating policy exemptions that give Hong Kong different and special treatment.” This…
President Trump announced on Friday that he has directed his administration to “begin the process of eliminating policy exemptions that give Hong Kong different and special treatment.” This means a wide range of agreements between the U. S. and Hong Kong, from and extradition treaty to trade policies, will be affected.
His announcement came a day after China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) rubber-stamped a national security law drafted by the Chinese government. The law seeks to ban “treason, secession, sedition and subversion.” But it is so broadly defined and vaguely worded that it will greatly expand the CCP’s control over Hong Kong by criminalizing Hongkongers for exercising their basic rights to free speech and free assembly.
The fact that Beijing chose to bypass Hong Kong’s legislature to impose such a controversial law on the people of Hong Kong effectively ends the “One Country, Two Systems” framework, which was supposed to guarantee Hong Kong’s political autonomy from Beijing fo 50 years. Beijing’s action and announcement have drawn international outcry and condemnation.
As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement, “No reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground.” To fulfill his duty required by the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act (HRDA) mandate, Pompeo informed the U. S. Congress on Wednesday, “Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China.”
Based on Pompeo’s recommendation, President Trump instructed his administration now to revoke Hong Kong’s preferential treatment as a separate customs and travel territory from the rest of China. Trump also said his administration will sanction individuals and officials from both the Communist China and Hong Kong who are responsible for eroding Hong Kong’s autonomy.
