WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Wednesday that the State Department no longer considered Hong Kong to have significant autonomy under Chinese rule, a move that indicated that the Trump administration was likely to end some or all of the U.S. government's special trade and economic relations with the territory in southern China.
Such actions have been discussed for days by foreign-policy aides, and they would be among the harshest punishments imposed by the administration over the past three years on China.
Hong Kong has been a global financial and commercial hub since late last century. China relies on the bustling metropolis of ports and skyscrapers on the edge of the South China Sea for transactions with other countries. Many Chinese and foreign firms use Hong Kong as an international or regional base, and members of elite Chinese Communist Party families or executives with ties to them do business and own property there. Many companies also raise capital by listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Pompeo's announcement came the day before Beijing was expected to pass a national security law that would allow Chinese security agencies to severely limit civil liberties in Hong Kong. Pompeo has said that would be a "death knell" for Hong Kong, which has had liberties under a semiautonomous system of governance that does not exist in mainland China, including freedoms of speech, the press and assembly, as well as an independent judiciary.
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For days, protesters in Hong Kong have taken to the streets to voice anger at the national security law proposed by Beijing, only to be beaten back by police officers wearing riot gear and firing tear gas.
If it proceeds with punishments, the Trump administration could impose the same tariffs on exports from Hong Kong that it puts on goods from mainland China, according to officials with knowledge of the discussions. That could happen soon after the Chinese government approves the national security law today.
"I certified to Congress today that Hong Kong does not continue to warrant treatment under United States laws in the same manner as U.S. laws were applied to Hong Kong before July 1997," Pompeo said Wednesday. "No reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground."
Pompeo said that "Hong Kong and its dynamic, enterprising and free people have flourished for decades as a bastion of liberty, and this decision gives me no pleasure." He added: "But sound policymaking requires a recognition of reality. While the United States once hoped that free and prosperous Hong Kong would provide a model for authoritarian China, it is now clear that China is modeling Hong Kong after itself."
The certification by the State Department is a recommendation on policy direction and does not itself catalyze any actions immediately. American officials, including President Donald Trump, will now weigh what steps to take.
The United States is likely to choose specific areas in which to break off cooperation first with Hong Kong, including on trade. The president would need to issue an executive order to end the special relationship entirely, according to people familiar with the discussions.
ANNOUNCEMENT CHEERED
Britain handed Hong Kong to China in 1997, after the two nations reached an agreement on the colony 13 years earlier. In 1992, the United States passed a law that said the U.S. government would continue to treat Hong Kong under the same conditions that applied when Britain ruled the territory.
In November 2019, after months of pro-democracy protests and crackdowns by police in Hong Kong, Trump signed into law a bill with bipartisan support that said the State Department would have to provide an annual certification to Congress on whether the United States should continue the special relationship with Hong Kong.
That certification depends on a judgment by State Department officials on whether the Chinese government was ceding enough autonomy to Hong Kong.
In Congress, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a sponsor of the bill on Hong Kong that passed last fall, cheered Pompeo's announcement.
"For years, the Chinese government and Communist Party have walked back on its commitment to ensure autonomy and freedom for Hong Kong," Rubio said. "We cannot let Beijing profit from breaking the Sino-British Joint Declaration and trying to crush the spirit of Hong Kong's people."
Shortly after the announcement, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called for the Senate to enact penalties. "It is imperative the Senate act on bipartisan legislation sanctioning China for the destruction of Hong Kong's democracy and freedom," he said. "We must move quickly and decisively."
Senior administration officials, including Pompeo, national security adviser Robert O'Brien and White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett have in recent days warned that China risks losing Hong Kong as an Asian financial hub if it went ahead with such moves.
The top U.S. diplomat for Asia, David Stilwell, told reporters Wednesday that the administration had not yet determined how best to proceed. But he said whatever course it adopted would be targeted at Chinese authorities with an eye toward changing their behavior while protecting the people of Hong Kong from the impact of possible sanctions.
China has reacted angrily to any suggestion that it be punished for what it considers to be a strictly domestic matter. Asked about possible U.S. retaliation over the security legislation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said in Beijing on Wednesday that China would take necessary steps to fight back against what he called "erroneous foreign interference in Hong Kong's affairs."
HONG KONG PROTEST
In Hong Kong on Wednesday, thousands of protesters shouted pro-democracy slogans and insults at police as lawmakers debated a bill criminalizing abuse of the Chinese national anthem in the semi-autonomous city.
Police massed outside the legislative building ahead of the session and warned protesters that if they did not disperse, they could be prosecuted.
In the central business district, police raised flags warning protesters to disperse before they shot pepper balls at the crowd and searched several people. More than 50 people in the Causeway Bay shopping district were rounded up and made to sit outside a shopping mall, while riot police with pepper spray patrolled and warned journalists to stop filming.
In the Mong Kok district in Kowloon, some protesters set cardboard boxes and plastic on fire as demonstrations carried on into the night. The blaze was put out by firefighters.
Across Hong Kong, 360 people were arrested on charges including unauthorized assembly, possession of items that could be used for unlawful purposes -- such as gasoline bombs, driving slowly and blocking traffic, according to Facebook posts by the Hong Kong police force.
The bill would make it illegal to insult or abuse the Chinese national anthem, "March of the Volunteers" in semi-autonomous Hong Kong. Those guilty of the offense would face up to three years in prison and a fine of $6,450.
Opponents of the bill say it is a blow to freedom of expression in the city, while Beijing officials say it will foster a patriotic spirit and socialist values.
"Western democracies all have laws to protect their national flags, national anthems and emblems. Any insulting acts toward these symbols would also be criminal," pro-Beijing lawmaker Tony Tse said in the legislative debate.
Tse said the bill would not affect human rights or force people to love the country or support any political power. "The purpose of this is to protect the dignity of a country," he said.
Pro-democracy lawmaker Charles Mok disagreed, saying the legislation would not help gain the respect of people and was an excuse to control freedom, speech and ideas of people.
"We oppose the second reading of the national anthem bill, not because we don't respect the national anthem. The national anthem is a symbol of the country's dignity. If it wants to be respected, then let this government first respect the rights and freedoms of its people first," Mok said.
The bill was proposed in January 2019 after spectators from Hong Kong jeered at the anthem during high-profile international soccer matches in 2015. Last year, FIFA fined the Hong Kong Football Association after fans booed the national anthem at a World Cup qualifying game.
Information for this article was contributed by Edward Wong of The New York Times; and by Zen Soo and Matthew Lee of The Associated Press.
A Section on 05/28/2020