If Beijing puts troops in Hong Kong, Washington should suspend the city’s trade status, US commission says
- US-China Economic and Security Review Commission also says export control measures on mainland companies should be applied to their Hong Kong units
- Recommendations come after China calls for tougher crackdown on anti-government protests
Washington should suspend the special economic status granted to Hong Kong if Beijing deploys its military forces in the city, a congressional body warned on Thursday, along with a range of other recommendations addressing perceived threats the US faces as a result of its engagement with China.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which has a mandate to advise US lawmakers on the implications of Washington’s economic relationship with Beijing, also called for US export control measures on mainland Chinese companies to be extended to their Hong Kong subsidiaries.
Hong Kong issues aside, the body warned about continued investment by US companies in China because of increasing vulnerabilities they face in terms of data and intellectual property protection and said that Chinese companies listed on American stock exchanges should abide by the same disclosure rules as other firms.
According to the commission’s charter, its recommendations are meant “for action by Congress or the President, or both”, but those authorities are not obliged to act on them.
Reflecting the broad ideological and military threats that its members say China poses for the US, the commission took Beijing to task for what it characterised as an attack on democracy in Hong Kong and on the mainland as well as a “campaign of cultural extermination” against the country’s Uygur and other Muslim minorities.
If there were flickers of opening up in China, they have been firmly extinguished
