How to weaponise Hong Kong against China

The opposition have got more than they bargained for, now that US President Donald Trump has stripped the city of its special trade status to treat it the same as the mainland

Alex Lo

Published: 10:09pm, 15 Jul 2020

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It would have been amusing if it weren’t so tragic. US President Donald Trump has signed into law the Hong Kong Autonomy Act as well as an executive order ending the city’s preferential trade and special customs status. This is, apparently, to preserve and fight for Hong Kong’s freedoms!

The act will require sanctions against foreign individuals and banks for supposedly helping to erode Hong Kong’s autonomy. HSBC, Standard Chartered and Bank of China, note-issuing banks one and all, watch out! I hope you don’t have Carrie Lam as your customer.

“Hong Kong will now be treated the same as mainland China,” Trump said. “No special privileges, no special economic treatment, and no export of sensitive technologies.”

It’s hard to see how any of that will help Hong Kong, its people and their “autonomy” by treating it as part of China. Surely this couldn’t have been what the opposition and protest movement had in mind when they openly urged Washington to sanction Hong Kong and Beijing. They had wanted the threat, not the execution, in the belief that Beijing would back off.

US President Donald Trump signs Hong Kong Autonomy Act

But Beijing wasn’t about to compromise when it considered Hong Kong’s stability and governability a core national security concern, especially after the prolonged violent unrest of last year.

Some opposition leaders thought they could change the behaviour of one superpower by inviting the intervention of another one. They rather neglect the fact that Hongkongers are small fry caught in a titanic power struggle between the two. If someone is going to be trampled on, any sensible person could have guessed which one.

The new American laws – there are more in the pipeline – will harm Hong Kong a lot more than Beijing. Washington is on a warpath to take on China in every domain it can think of – South China Sea, 5G, trade, international disease control, Chinese students and researchers in America, US-listed Chinese companies …

Hong Kong is just another “linkage” to be weaponised by Washington, and our opposition and anti-government activists have handed over their city on a silver platter.

Either they are too naive or stupid to realise what has happened. Or they hate China more than they love their own city. Maybe giving Beijing a bloody nose is worth it even if it means breaking Hong Kong in the process. And many of our noble freedom fighters can move to the Five Eyes English-speaking nations to avoid facing the consequences of their actions.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: How to weaponise the city against China