China has said it would impose sanctions on the US after US President Donald Trump has signed legislation to punish Beijing for “oppressive acts” in Hong Kong and an executive order ending all preferential treatment for the city.
“The US law…maliciously denigrates Hong Kong’s national security legislation, threatens to impose sanctions on China, and seriously violates international law and basic rules of international relations. It is gross interference in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs,” China’s foreign ministry said in a scathing rebuke to Trump’s announcement earlier on Tuesday that he signed the so-called “Hong Kong Autonomy Act” into law.
Apart from the “Act,” that envisions sanctions against politicians who the US has accused of “extinguishing” the former British colony’s freedom with the new national security law, Trump also signed an executive order, stripping the territory of all of its special trading status.
Both the Hong Kong Autonomy Act – a bill that blazed through Congress with bipartisan support – and the order seek to penalize Beijing for alleged rights abuses in Hong Kong.
Bejing, which insists that the new security law was needed to “protect national sovereignty,” has denounced the US rhetoric and punitive measures as an attempt to “obstruct” the implementation of the law, vowing to make sure that the US “will never succeed” in the pursuit of that goal.
The foreign ministry said that China would not just sit idly and will respond in kind.
In order to safeguard its own legitimate interests, China will make the necessary response and impose sanctions on relevant US personnel and entities
Published on Tuesday evening, Trump’s order will “suspend or eliminate different and preferential treatment for Hong Kong,” including in the realms of national security, foreign policy, immigration and economics, rescinding a special arrangement established with the city under the 1992 Hong Kong Policy Act. The previous law allowed Washington to treat Hong Kong as a separate entity from Mainland China, especially in matters of trade.
The separate ‘autonomy’ bill will additionally impose sanctions on Chinese officials accused of violating the rights and freedoms of Hong Kongers, a charge Beijing has repeatedly denied.
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