China accuses US of interference after Senate passes bills supporting Hong Kong protesters – CNBC, Google News

China’sforeign ministry on Wednesday criticized the US After theSenate unanimously passed a bill supporting Hong Kongprotesters.

The “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act “interferes in China’s domestic affairs, said foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang, according to an online statement in Chinese.

China”strongly condemns and resolutely opposes“the act of interference, Geng said hours after the bill was passed.

That bill now proceeds to the House, which already approved its own version of the bill in October. The two chambers of Congress have to work out differences between their bills before it can be sent to President Donald Trump.

The upper house of Congress also passed a separate bill banning certain munition exports to the Hong Kong police.

Hong Kong is a former British colony and returned to Chinese rule in 1997. As a special administrative region of China, the city operates under a “one country, two systems” structure, which grants its residents legal and economic freedoms that citizens in mainland China do not have.

The Hong Kong governmenton Wednesday “expressed deep regret”over the passage of the proposed act.

“The ‘Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act’ and the other act on Hong Kong are unnecessary and unwarranted. They will also harm the relations and common interests between Hong Kong and the US, “a government spokesman said in a statement from the Hong Kong government.

” Since the return to the Motherland, the HKSAR (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) has been exercising ‘Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong’ and a high degree of autonomy in strict accordance with the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. The ‘one country, two systems’ principle ha s been fully and successfully implemented, “added the spokesman.

Despite the clash over the bill, the U.S. and China are still likely to reach a “phase one” trade deal, said Robert Daly, director of the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States.

“If there is a phase one trade deal is in the offing, it’s almost certainly going to be a deal largely on Beijing’s terms; something that Beijing will want – purchases and promises, not a deal reckoning on the structural process, “Daly told CNBC on Wednesday. “China would want that deal even if it felt insulted over Hong Kong.”

The U.S. is unlikely to withdraw Hong Kong’s special trading status for now, Daly said.

Under the US-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992,Washington treats Hong Kong as a separate regionfrom mainland China even after the former British colony transferred to Chinese rule in 1997. That includes treating Hong Kong as a separate customs territory.

Therefore, Hong Kong exports to the U.S. are not subject to the tariffs that the Trump administration has imposed on goods from mainland China.

“I don’t think they would directly withdraw that relationship unless China went in with armed force either through the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) or through the People’s Armed Police, “Daly said at the Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific Summit.

The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act still has to be reconciled and signed into the law by the US president – a process that could be “slow walked,” said Daly.

Regarding thePLA’s clean-up activityon the streets of Hong Kong last week, Daly said that was an “interim step” that Beijing was taking to get people used to seeing the PLA on the streets of Hong Kong “although seeing them in a relatively benign light of young men and women clearing bricks. “

” This is also signalling to the people of China to see the People’s Liberation Army out there as virtuous, as constructive as opposed to the chaos and the protesters in Hong Kong itself, “said Daly.

Aside from the political signalling within China, it would also be an” interim step to further involvement of either the People’s Armed Police or PLA, “said Daly.

Both Beijing and Hong Kong are” scrambling “over what to do about the situation in the city, said Ben Bland, director at Australian think tank Lowy Institute.

“No one really expected we would see this level of defiance, of violence, but also of unity from the supporters of democracy in Hong Kong, “he said. “I think it has caught the Hong Kong government off-guard. It has caught Beijing off-guard. It has caught the rest of the world off-guard.”

But expect more Beijing oversight in Hong Kong, said Bland.

“The one thing that we can expect and which they have indicated is that they are going to be squeezing Hong Kong harder on so many fronts more prosecutions, more assertive action from the police, and in fact more direct control over Hong Kong from the authorities in Beijing, “Bland said.

On Tuesday, Beijing said Hong Kong courts have no power to rule on the constitutionality of legislation under the city’s Basic Law.

That came just a day after the special administrative region’s High Court ruled that a ban on the wearing of face masks during public demonstrations was unconstitutional.

“I think they want a Hong Kong that’s loyal and quiet and does what it’s told and as to how they get there that depends on how Hong Kongers react an d so far they’ve really been digging their heels in, “Bland said.