US to strip city of its preferential trade status
President Trump enacted two Hong Kong-related measures on Tuesday, stripping the city of its preferential trade status and sanctioning Chinese officials responsible for implementing a new national security law in the autonomous city.
Beijing immediately blasted the moves, promising a tit-for-tat response.
China formally summoned US Ambassador Terry Branstad Wednesday to express its displeasure with the US move to strip Hong Kong of its special trade status, and to voice its opposition to the Hong Kong Human Autonomy Act drafted by Congress and signed by the US president this week.
In a statement accompanying the summons cited by the People’s Daily, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang was said to have urged the US diplomat to convey to Washington the need to “correct the mistake” made through America’s “vehement interference” in China’s internal affairs.
“We urge the US to change its course immediately, stop defamation and provocation against China, and do not go further and further on the wrong path,” the official was quoted as saying.
“The Hong Kong [law] and the executive order were concocted by the US not because it cares about democracy and freedom of Hong Kong people, but as a means to hinder the development of China. Such a scheme will never succeed,” Zheng stressed.
The Chinese official also warned that Beijing would not hesitate to sanction US nationals and entities to protect its interests on a tit-for-tat basis.
