Letters | How China united US lawmakers, and lost friends in Washington

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Hong Kong democracy advocate Joshua Wong shakes hands with US Representative Tom Suozzi as Representative Jim McGovern, chair of the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China, looks on before a hearing on Capitol Hill on September 17 about the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:30am, 27 Nov 2019Updated: 1:59am, 27 Nov 2019

The real story of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act is the vote – unanimous in the US Senate and 417-1 in the House. When does anyone see any consensus of this magnitude in Washington?

With every spammy online comment by China’s “50 cent army”, with every angry, uncompromising statement by the Foreign Ministry, American support for China sinks lower.

You know things are bad when Senator Chuck Schumer, leader of the Democrats in the Senate, is criticising President Donald Trump for being too soft on China. How did China lose the United States? The people running the show in China are supposed to be clever. Why are these supposedly smart people so tone-deaf? With the American public and political class now all turning against China, some previously remote possibilities are becoming more and more likely. Particularly:

1. Consumer boycotts: if the American public demands that retailers like Amazon and Wal-Mart stop selling all “made in China” products, who will Beijing negotiate this trade action with?

2. Debt cancellation: given the situations in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, some might begin challenging the morality or even legality of the US honouring its debt obligations to China.

The real story with the Human Rights and Democracy Act is how such a broad social and political consensus has formed in the US against China. This is likely going to have vast consequences.