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Trump signs law supporting Hong Kong protesters
WASHINGTON, Nov 28, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald Trump signed a law
Wednesday supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, likely angering
Beijing just as Washington was hoping to ease the long-running US-China trade
war.
Trump had seemed reluctant to sign the bill but with almost unanimous US
congressional support for the measure, he had little political room to
maneuver.
In a statement, Trump spoke of “respect” for Chinese President Xi Jinping
and said he hoped the “leaders and representatives of China and Hong Kong
will be able to amicably settle their differences.”
A week ago, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, condemned the bill as
“naked interference in China’s internal affairs.”
Just on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said it had summoned the US
ambassador to Beijing to warn that the United States would “bear all the
consequences” if the bill went through.
The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which won rare and
overwhelming bipartisan support in both houses of Congress, supports Hong
Kong’s protesters.
It requires the US president to annually review the city’s favorable trade
status and threatens to revoke it if the semi-autonomous territory’s freedoms
are quashed.
Congress also passed legislation banning sales of tear gas, rubber bullets
and other equipment used by Hong Kong security forces in putting down the
protests, which are now in their sixth month.
Republican senators Marco Rubio and Jim Risch, together with Democratic
senators Ben Cardin Bob Menendez, issued a joint statement welcoming Trump’s
decision.
“The US now has new and meaningful tools to deter further influence and
interference from Beijing into Hong Kong’s internal affairs,” Rubio said.
“Following last weekend’s historic elections in Hong Kong that included
record turnout, this new law could not be more timely in showing strong US
support for Hong Kongers’ long-cherished freedoms.”
– Trade tensions –
Trump could have vetoed the bill, but he would have faced the possibility
of a politically humiliating override — something unthinkable on most
issues, but feasible given the strength of congressional support on Hong
Kong.
Trump, who badly wants even a partial trade deal to show to voters as his
reelection campaign gets underway, had appeared to hesitate.
New pressure came on him to join Congress after Hong Kong voted decisively
in local elections Sunday for candidates backing demands for more democracy
and autonomy from communist China’s central government.
On Tuesday, Trump said he was “with” the protesters, but quickly
backpedalled, emphasizing his close ties to Xi and efforts to secure a long-
delayed resolution to the trade war between the world’s two biggest
economies.
“We’re in the final throes of a very important deal, I guess you could say
one of the most important deals in trade ever,” Trump said.
“It’s going very well but at the same time we want to see it go well in
Hong Kong. I think it will. I think that President Xi can make that happen. I
know him and I know he’d like to make it happen,” he said.
Washington and Beijing have delivered a series of positive signals in the
last few days about closing in on a partial trade deal, known as “phase one.”
However, previous predictions of success have repeatedly come and gone.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 0744 hrs