Biden administration maintains Trump policy on Hong Kong

The Biden administration has concluded that Hong Kong should not receive preferential treatment under US law after Beijing cracked down on the pro-democracy movement and undermined autonomy in the territory.

Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, said Hong Kong did not warrant the preferential status that the former British colony was given when it was returned to China in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” model that was supposed to guarantee its autonomy for five decades.

“Over the past year . . . China has continued to dismantle Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, in violation of its obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and Hong Kong’s Basic Law,” Blinken said in making the annual determination to Congress required by the Hong Kong Policy Act.

Last year, Donald Trump became the first US president to declare that Hong Kong was no longer sufficiently autonomous from China to deserve special status, which includes trade privileges. This month, the UK said that China was violating the 1984 joint declaration.

China last year imposed a draconian national security law in an effort to clamp down on democracy activists in the city. The passage of the law, which was introduced without consideration by Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing legislature, paved the way for the arrest of dozens of activists, including Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow.

Last month, China took further action to eviscerate the little democracy enjoyed by the 7m residents of the financial hub, significantly cutting the number of lawmakers directly elected to the legislature. At the time, the Biden administration described the move as a “direct attack” on Hong Kong’s autonomy.

Kurt Tong, a former US consul-general in Hong Kong, said that given what had happened since the last report a year ago, it would have been surprising if Joe Biden had not made the re-certification to Congress.

“But the report’s negative finding may not trigger any further action,” said Tong, now a partner at The Asia Group, a consultancy. “President Trump already took steps last July to ‘normalise’ US ties with Hong Kong along the lines of what was envisioned under the Hong Kong Policy Act.”

But Tong said the US would remain “tenacious” in indicating that China was not fulfilling its obligations of Hong Kong’s handover from the UK.

Blinken said China and Hong Kong had taken multiple actions that warranted the determination, including arbitrary arrests and politically motived prosecutions in addition to pressure on the judiciary and media.

“I am committed to continuing to work with Congress and our allies and partners around the world to stand with people in Hong Kong against [China’s] egregious policies and actions,” Blinken added.

The US designation marked the latest in a series of efforts by the Biden administration to take a harsher approach to China than many foreign policy experts had expected.

While Biden has stressed the need to work with allies — a divergence from the Trump administration — he has taken a tough line on Hong Kong, Taiwan and Chinese human rights abuses against Uyghurs, which his administration on Tuesday formally labelled “genocide”.

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