Hong Kong's trade chief has embarked on a gruelling series of meetings in the American capital to diffuse the rapidly growing sentiment in Congress to revoke China's trading privileges.
Officials in the territory's Washington office fear the hardest fight since 1994 in preserving Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status for China and are concerned at suggestions members in Congress might seek to link trade with Beijing to its future behaviour towards Taiwan.
In her week-long schedule of meetings, Trade and Industry Secretary Denise Yue warned US Trade Representative Mickey Kantor that the emerging threat to have Hong Kong placed on a hitlist of intellectual property rights offenders would be 'totally unjustified'.
Ms Yue has met Assistant Secretary of State Winston Lord, whom she said told her the administration's position to keep MFN de-linked from human rights would not change.
But the picture was not as encouraging from Congress.
'The members I talked to mentioned that the existing tensions would be a complicating factor,' Ms Yue said.