Jubilee Post News & Views
Special Desk
In what could be seen as a step further in escalating tension between the US and Chine, the US President Donald Trump has signed an order to end preferential treatment for Hong Kong.
This comes after China enacted a new and controversial security law for the ex-British colony. China said it would take retaliatory action.
“Hong Kong will now be treated the same as mainland China,” Trump gave a statement over the decision and signed bipartisan legislation to impose sanctions on Chinese officials who crack down on rights in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong has so far enjoyed unique freedoms not seen in mainland China. But many people in the territory fear the new security law imposed by Beijing will bring an end to Hong Kong’s special status, agreed under a 1984 pact between China and the UK.
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The legislation – which outlaws criticism of China’s government – is the most sweeping change to the political landscape of Hong Kong since it was handed back to China by the UK in 1997.
Speaking in the Rose Garden Trump said his executive order would end preferential treatment for Hong Kong. “No special privileges, no special economic treatment and no export of sensitive technologies,” said the president, who had first announced in May that his administration would begin paring back the territory’s special status.
He also told reporters he had signed the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, which passed unanimously in Congress earlier this month.
“This law gives my administration powerful new tools to hold responsible the individuals and the entities involved in extinguishing Hong Kong’s freedom,” Trump told the media.
The president said when asked by a journalist that he had no plans to speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
