Hong Kong warns removing US special status is a ‘double-edged sword’

HONG KONG (Reuters): Hong Kong told the United States to keep out of the debate over national security legislation being imposed by China, and warned that withdrawal of the financial hub’s special status under US law could backfire on the US economy.

President Donald Trump is due to announce later on Friday his response to the Chinese Parliament’s advancement this week of security legislation for Hong Kong, which many lawyers, diplomats and investors fear could erode the city’s freedoms.

The former British colony has been racked by civil unrest amid fears Beijing is curbing the high degree of autonomy it has enjoyed under a “one country, two systems” formula adopted when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

“Any sanctions are a double-edged sword that will not only harm the interests of Hong Kong but also significantly those of the US,” Hong Kong’s government said late on Thursday. From 2009 to 2018, the US trade surplus of $297 billion with Hong Kong was the biggest among all Washington’s trading partners, and 1,300 US firms were based in the city, it said. Beijing says the new legislation, likely to come into force before September, will tackle secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference in the city. It could see Chinese intelligence agencies set up bases in Hong Kong.

China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) said it would “guide and support Hong Kong police to stop violence and restore order”. Hong Kong’s police have been independent from China and the MPS has no enforcement powers in the city.

Riot police fired pepper pellets this week to disperse thousands of protesters in the city’s first major unrest since anti-government demonstrations paralysed it for months last year, and after the coronavirus dampened fervour this year.