US President Joe Biden renews Hong Kong’s ‘emergency status’ in executive order
- The original order, issued in 2020 by Donald Trump after the imposition of a national security law, removed the city’s preferential trade status and other privileges
US President Joe Biden renewed Hong Kong’s “emergency status” on Wednesday, the fourth time since the executive order removing the city’s preferential trade status was issued in 2020.
The “national emergency” was first declared by former US president Donald Trump, a response to the national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong following months of anti-government protests that started in 2019.
Biden said that the national emergency executive order, subject to annual renewal, “must continue in effect” for the coming year. He has also notified Congress.
“The situation with respect to Hong Kong, including recent actions taken by the People’s Republic of China to fundamentally undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy, continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States,” Biden said in a statement.
The executive order revokes special trade privileges the US had granted Hong Kong based on the determination that the city “is no longer sufficiently autonomous to justify differential treatment in relation to the People’s Republic of China”.
Under terms of the order, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region no longer receives special economic treatment, nor can sensitive technology be exported to the city. Holders of Hong Kong passports are also treated the same as people possessing Chinese ones.