On the 14th of July 2020, Tuesday Donald J. Trump, the 45th and current President of the United States of America signed the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, which imposes sanctions on foreign individuals and other such entities who contribute to the Chinese failure of preserving the autonomy of the people of Hongkong. In addition, the US President also signed an executive order officially cancelling a special trading status provided to Hong Kong by the United States since 1997, ending its preferential trade treatment.
According to the Al Jazeera Report dating 15th July, Trump addressing Hong Kong citizens said, "We've all watched what happened, not a good situation. Their freedom has been taken away, their rights have been taken away”. He also mentioned, "Hong Kong will now be treated the same as mainland China, No special privileges, no special economic treatment and no export of sensitive technologies."
The Hong Kong Autonomy Bill, introduced by Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen and Republican Senator Pat Toomey, was done so as a response to China’s National Security Law which surfaced in late June 2020. This law, being extraterritorial, covering alleged crimes committed outside the city, criminalises a wide range of behaviour under four classes of subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion, allowing Beijing to extradite suspects to the mainland from Hong Kong in certain cases. Sophie Richardson, the China director at Human Rights Watch said, “China should abandon this effort to impose a national security law on Hong Kong immediately, No government should invoke national security as a justification for repression.”
Hong Kong, a former colony under the British Empire, was reclaimed by China in 1997 following an understanding with the United Kingdom guaranteeing a "high degree of autonomy" for the territory which would include substantial political freedoms for a term of 50 years. However, China has failed to deliver those promises, and has also limited the scope of political representation of Hong Kong. Starting from 2014, mass protests have been prevalent in Hong Kongeven today and have opposed what people see as Beijing's total control of the territory. This was followed by Beijing’s imposition of the national security law, last month.
Last week, the Trump administration brought out sanctions on four Chinese Communist Party officials, freezing their assets in the United States and banning them from entering the country, over its repression of Uighur Muslims, an ethnic majoity in the Xinjiang region of China. These sanctions came into being after victims from Xinjiang detailed their horrific experience being held without legal procedures in the region’s “political education” camps, forcing them to shed their Turkic Muslim identity and pledge loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party.
According to Al Jazeera, on Wednesday, the Chinese foreign ministry said it "firmly opposes and strongly condemns" the Hong Kong Autonomy Act. Adding on the ministry noted, "China will make necessary responses to protect its legitimate interests, and impose sanctions on relevant US personnel and entities". With such threats put forth by China, is the world still a safe place to live in?
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