The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government today (November 28) expressed strong opposition to the fact that the "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act" (the Act) and another act on Hong Kong have become United States (US) law and deeply regretted that the US has disregarded the genuine concerns raised repeatedly by Hong Kong on the two acts.  The two acts clearly intervene in Hong Kong's internal affairs.  They are unnecessary and unwarranted, and would harm the relations and common interests between Hong Kong and the US.

     A Government spokesman said, "The two acts are unreasonable. Although human rights and democracy are mentioned in the title of the Act, some of the provisions in the Act are actually about export control and enforcement of the sanctions imposed by the United Nations in Hong Kong, which are totally unrelated to human rights and democracy in Hong Kong.  The two acts will also send an erroneous signal to protesters, which is not conducive to alleviating the situation in Hong Kong.

     "The US has enormous economic interests in Hong Kong, including earning from Hong Kong the largest bilateral trade surplus amongst her global trading partners for the past decade, and the surplus stood at over USD 33 billion last year.  Any unilateral change of US economic and trade policy towards Hong Kong would create a negative impact on the relations between the two sides as well as the US' own interests.  Furthermore, Hong Kong and the US have all along had close co-operation on export control and law enforcement.

     "The HKSAR Government hopes that the US Government would adopt a pragmatic attitude, and would, with the interest of the mutually beneficial relations between Hong Kong and the US as well as the US' own interests in Hong Kong in mind, maintain her economic and trade policy and principled positions towards Hong Kong as well as continue to respect Hong Kong's status as a separate customs territory."

     The spokesman reiterated that foreign governments and legislatures should not interfere in any form in the internal affairs of the HKSAR.

Ends/Thursday, November 28, 2019
Issued at HKT 10:21

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