National security law: Donald Trump’s sanctions will only weaken Hong Kong autonomy, US academic warns

US president’s self-serving programme of sanctions will hurt Hongkongers and speed up city’s absorption into mainland China, Carole Petersen says

National security law undermines the firewall between the two jurisdictions, academics tell online forum

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A US legal scholar who taught in Hong Kong says American sanctions could contribute to the blurring distinction between the city and mainland China. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 9:56pm, 28 Sep 2020Updated: 2:00am, 29 Sep 2020

Donald Trump’s economic sanctions on Hong Kong risk having the perverse effect of accelerating the city’s integration with the rest of China, an American legal scholar has warned as she raised fresh concerns over the Beijing-decreed national security law.

Carole Petersen, a University of Hawaii academic who specialises in Hong Kong affairs, said on Monday the United States president’s “unduly punitive” measures were both self-serving and counterproductive, while acknowledging the legislation they were issued in response to was a worrying development for the city.

“I don’t think it helps to promote Hong Kong’s autonomy,” she said of the sanctions programme, adding it would only hurt Hongkongers and hasten the city’s integration with mainland China.

The human rights and international law scholar, who taught at the University of Hong Kong and City University between 1989 and 2006, said: “I don’t think Donald Trump is particularly concerned about Hong Kong as much as his own political advantage.”

Donald Trump is more concerned with his political plight than that of Hongkongers, according to a US academic who taught in the city. Photo: EPA-EFE

Petersen was speaking at an online conference held by HKU’s Centre for Comparative and Public Law and the Birmingham Law School in Britain for the book launch of China’s National Security: Endangering Hong Kong’s Rule of Law?