China has threatened unspecified “strong countermeasures” if the US Congress enacts legislation supporting Hong Kong protesters, in a sign of deepening strains as the world’s two largest economies attempt to seal a trade deal.
The Chinese foreign ministry issued the warning on Wednesday after the US House of Representatives passed a package of measures backing a pro-democracy movement that has rocked the former British colony for more than four months. Among them was the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which subjects the city’s special US trading status to annual reviews and provides for sanctions against officials deemed responsible for undermining its “fundamental freedoms and autonomy”.
While the legislation must also pass the US Senate and be signed by President Donald Trump to become law, it already has strong bipartisan support in the Republican-run upper chamber. The Hong Kong measures were passed by the Democrat-controlled House by unanimous voice votes on Tuesday.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang warned American lawmakers to stop meddling in China’s internal affairs “before falling off the edge of the cliff”, without specifying how Beijing might retaliate.
The House action “fully exposes the shocking hypocrisy of some in the US on human rights and democracy and their malicious intention to undermine Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability to contain China’s development”, Geng said.
Both Trump and President Xi Jinping have so far prevented the international uproar over Hong Kong from scuttling their trade talks. The two sides went ahead with negotiations and reached some broad agreements last week, even though the House vote was widely expected at the time.
“I don’t think this will undermine the prospect of signing a partial deal next month,” said Wang Huiyao, an adviser to China’s cabinet and founder of the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing. “The Hong Kong bill is not a done deal and there is still room for redemption.”
A spokesman for the Hong Kong government “expressed regret” over the House action, which came hours before Chief Executive Carrie Lam addressed a raucous session of the Legislative Council. She barely managed a few words before pro-democracy lawmakers forced her to stop talking. She ended up delivering her annual policy address via video instead.
While the pro-democracy bloc only comprises about a third of Hong Kong lawmakers, Wednesday’s display showed they have the ability to shut down debate on major economic initiatives. That spells even more trouble ahead for an economy sliding into recession as protests against Beijing’s grip over the city grow increasingly violent.
China’s retaliation threat against the US rattled markets in Asia, at one point wiping out a 0.8% rally in the regional equity benchmark.
US lawmakers have embraced the Hong Kong protesters’ cause as the yearlong trade war fuels American support for pushing back against China, and they have hosted some of the city’s activists on Capitol Hill in recent weeks. The National Basketball Association’s struggle to manage Chinese backlash against a Houston Rockets executive’s support for the movement has only focused wider attention on the debate.
On Tuesday, the House also passed the Protect Hong Kong Act, which would halt the export to Hong Kong of crowd-control devices such as tear gas and rubber bullets.
Republican Senators Rick Scott of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri visited Hong Kong over the two-week congressional recess that ended on Tuesday. Hawley met with local pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong and got into a back-and-forth with Lam over whether Hong Kong is a becoming a “police state”.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ local branch in the city issued a separate statement warning the US against “playing the Hong Kong card”.
“They are lifting the stone only to drop it on their own feet,” it said.
David Zweig, an emeritus professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and director of Transnational China Consulting, noted that the US legislation stopped short of altering the Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992, which provides the city with special trading status. So both the bill and any Chinese retaliation would have limited impact.
“China needs to posture with a retaliation of some kind,” Zweig said. “But this is really a secondary issue as long as they keep the Hong Kong Policy Act intact. The House could have gone much further with the Hong Kong Policy Act. And they didn’t.”