US hi-tech goods shipped through Hong Kong to face closer scrutiny under new democracy legislation
- City will be subject to tighter customs controls on ‘dual-use’ products that have both military and commercial applications
- Washington is becoming increasingly concerned at China’s use of American technology, analysts say
Under the legislation, Washington has the power to suspend Hong Kong’s special trading status if it is deemed to have lost a significant degree of autonomy from mainland China, as promised under the “one country, two systems” framework. As a result, the city will be subject to an annual assessment of the enforcement of export control laws that monitor and limit the sale of potentially sensitive products overseas.
The inclusion of dual-use technologies in the act comes at a time of growing concern in the US about Beijing’s rise as a global force in the tech sector that has also seen a crack down on technology transfers and greater scrutiny of academic partnerships between the US and China.
Under the act, the US commerce department is obliged to investigate whether controlled dual-use technologies are moving through Hong Kong to the mainland illegally. It mentions areas to watch, including China’s social credit system and mass surveillance programmes like the “Integrated Joint Operations Platform” used to monitor the largely Muslim population in the far western Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
Despite the appearance of the new stipulation in black and white, Louis Chan, head of the global research team at the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, said it was unlikely to have any real impact on Hong and US trade relations.