US President Donald Trump announced that he will hold a press conference today on China, without giving further details about its content, amid escalating US-Chinese tensions over Hong Kong and the implications of the emerging Corona virus.
"We will announce Friday what we will do with China," Trump told reporters at the Oval Office Thursday. "We are not satisfied with China."
Fears of China using a new law to end Hong Kong's freedom as a semi-autonomous region have raised expectations that Trump is planning to retaliate.
Many in Hong Kong and in the West fear that the project will deal a devastating blow to freedoms in the city.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Congress that Hong Kong is no longer self-governing, which strips this financial center of its distinctive trade rights under US law.
"Hong Kong is no longer eligible for the same treatment that US laws had guaranteed it before July 1997," Pompeo said in a statement.
"No sane person can confirm today that Hong Kong still has a great deal of autonomy, given the facts on the ground," Pompeo said.