The United States said on Saturday that it did not renew a national emergency declaration over Hong Kong, leading to the lifting of some sanctions, but said an executive order that revoked the city’s special trading status remains in force.
Hours earlier, China had said the US recently confirmed that the President’s Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization would end, a statement that appeared to signal that Hong Kong’s preferential privileges might be restored. But a State Department spokesperson said President Donald Trump had “allowed the national emergency to end, but Executive Order 13936 otherwise remains in effect”.
The spokesperson said that, as the order states, Hong Kong is no longer sufficiently autonomous to justify different treatment from mainland China under certain US laws and provisions.
The US Office of Foreign Assets Control said on Friday that the national emergency declared under the executive order had expired and that people sanctioned under that order had been removed from that list. It added that people who remain sanctioned under the Hong Kong Autonomy Act of 2020 had been moved to a different sanctions list.
The statement showed that Hong Kong leader John Lee and his predecessor Carrie Lam were removed from the first list and added to the second. A Treasury Department spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly by name, said the declaration had significant overlap with the other Hong Kong-linked law, and 39 of the 48 people affected by the expiry would continue to be sanctioned under that law. “The non-renewal is consistent with sanctions modernization efforts that streamline sanctions for greater efficiency and effectiveness, including by ensuring our sanctions are not duplicative,” the spokesperson said.
Trump signed the executive order in July 2020 during his first term after Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong. China has said the law was needed to restore stability in the city after the massive anti-government protests of 2019. The pro-democracy movement then posed one of the biggest challenges to the Communist Party in Beijing and the Hong Kong government since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Under the order, the US removed Hong Kong’s preferential treatment to the extent permitted by law and in the national security, foreign policy and economic interests of the United States. The full implications of the US decision not to renew the declaration were not immediately clear. The White House referred questions about the executive order’s lapse to the Treasury Department.
China’s Commerce Ministry said on Friday evening that the US had made commitments on Hong Kong issues and other matters during US-China trade talks in Madrid last year, and its statement struck a positive note. “The US side’s actions represent an important step in fulfilling the consensus reached during the bilateral economic and trade talks. China appreciates it,” it said.
The Hong Kong government said it had noted the “positive shift in the US policy” towards the city. “Safeguarding Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability serves the common interests of China and the US and also aligns with the general expectation of the international community,” it said. It added that it hopes the US will respect China’s sovereignty and the rule of law in Hong Kong, and resume normal economic and trade exchanges with the city.
The US policy change came two months after Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, ahead of Xi’s expected visit to the US later this year. Earlier this month, a pastor of a prominent underground church who had been detained in China in October was released after Trump raised his case with Xi. It remains unclear whether the different understandings of the Hong Kong move could affect that.
Six years after the national security law was introduced, many leading activists, including pro-democracy former media tycoon Jimmy Lai, have been jailed under it. Critics say the Western-style civil liberties that Beijing had promised to maintain for 50 years after the handover have declined. Overall, the US has let the national emergency declaration expire and lifted some linked sanctions, while keeping the wider executive order and other sanctions related to Hong Kong in place.
With PTI Inputs
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