For the United States, "Hong Kong is no longer autonomous" from China

Text by: RFI Follow

According to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, "Hong Kong is no longer autonomous" and could therefore lose its preferential trade status. His statement comes as the National People's Congress in China adopted this Thursday, May 28, a text on the implementation of the Chinese national security law in the special administrative region.

Publicity

With our regional correspondent, Stéphane Lagarde

With the time difference, Mike Pompeo's words arrived late in the night in Asia, immediately triggering a wave of “  Thank you  ” or “  Thank you for supporting Hong Kong  ” on Hong Kong social networks.

Today, I reported to Congress that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China, given facts on the ground. The United States stands with the people of Hong Kong.

What boost the motivation of pro-democracy activists knocked out Wednesday, May 27 by the massive arrests led by the police at the heart of the protests: 360 people taken by the police, twice as many as Sunday 24 .

The images of these arrests are also being looped on social networks on the continent, and in particular on the accounts of the state media which evoke "  illegal gatherings  " and the presence of "  lethal weapons  " in the processions.

The loss of autonomy linked to the status of Hong Kong is beyond doubt for those who contest the control of the Chinese state and refer to a de facto martial law imposed in the special administrative region in view of the police mobilization.

But for Chinese leaders, the national security law passed by Chinese Communist Party delegates on Thursday May 28 is an "  internal affair  " in China. Beijing thus threatens to retaliate if Donald Trump announces sanctions.

Washington, Beijing scramble for Security Council meeting

Washington also asked for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the security law in Hong Kong on Wednesday, but China "  refused  " to "  stand  ", according to the American mission.

Under the new procedures due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all videoconferences of the Security Council are organized on the basis of a consensus between its fifteen members. In ordinary times, each member of the Board can oppose a meeting if he obtains nine votes out of fifteen during a procedural vote.

In a tweet on Wednesday evening, Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, described the US meeting request as "  baseless  ."

China categorically rejects the baseless request of the US for a Security Council meeting.

Legislation on national security for Hong Kong is purely China's internal affairs.

It has nothing to do with the mandate of the Security Council.

► National security law passed in Hong Kong

The Chinese parliament unsurprisingly approved a national security bill in Hong Kong on Thursday. A vote came at the close of the annual session of the National People's Congress, which revived the dispute in Hong Kong.

2,878 votes for, 1 against, 6 abstentions and delegates standing almost as one man in the Great Palace of the People to applaud the vote on this text considered as a national issue by the state media, but criticized abroad especially in Washington and Brussels.

For pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, the law would indeed mark the beginning of the end of the autonomy of the Chinese special administrative region, offering the communist regime an arm in the former British colony against those whom Chinese power calls them "  secessionists  ", "  terrorists  " or "  danger  " to the integrity of the country.

For pro-Beijing deputies it would, on the contrary, be a means of reviving the economy of the semi-autonomous territory. Following the vote on Thursday, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (ANP) will be able to embark on the drafting of the text which will be incorporated into the mini-Constitution of Hong Kong.

According to Ming Pao , things could go very quickly. The Hong Kong daily notes that the permanent committee of the ANP meets every two months, the text could thus come into force next August. An express procedure without going through the local legislative council (Legco) which, for years, has encountered, in the street as in the ballot box, a large part of the Hong Kong public hostile to the strengthening of power in Beijing. The next Legco member elections in Hon Kong are scheduled for September.
SL

Newsletter Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

Follow all international news by downloading the RFI application

• Hong Kong
• China
• United States
• UN
• Diplomacy

On the same subject

Taiwan proposes humanitarian action plan to help Hong Kong people

Today the economy

Hong Kong's economic success threatened by Chinese interference?

Hong Kong youth tempted by independence