US President Joe Biden renewed Hong Kong’s “emergency status” on Wednesday, the fourth time since the executive order removing the city’s preferential trade status was issued in 2020.
The “national emergency” was first declared by former US president Donald Trump, a response to the national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong following months of anti-government protests that started in 2019.
Biden said that the national emergency executive order, subject to annual renewal, “must continue in effect” for the coming year. He has also notified Congress.
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“The situation with respect to Hong Kong, including recent actions taken by the People’s Republic of China to fundamentally undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy, continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States,” Biden said in a statement.
The executive order revokes special trade privileges the US had granted Hong Kong based on the determination that the city “is no longer sufficiently autonomous to justify differential treatment in relation to the People’s Republic of China”.
Under terms of the order, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region no longer receives special economic treatment, nor can sensitive technology be exported to the city. Holders of Hong Kong passports are also treated the same as people possessing Chinese ones.
Previous continuations by the US received strongly worded rejections from the Chinese foreign ministry’s office in Hong Kong.
In May, the US State Department said it would impose new visa restrictions on officials responsible for instituting the national security law in the landmark Hong Kong 47 case.
It urged Hong Kong authorities to release opposition figures who were convicted on subversion charges for taking part in a primary election in 2020, the biggest prosecution so far under the national security law.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Tough-on-China bills eyed for passage before 2024 election: US House Speaker Mike Johnson
- Hong Kong 47: ex-lawmaker says ‘radicals’ forced her to back 2020 subversion bid
- Hong Kong 47: activist Joshua Wong asks for no more than 10 years’ jail for ‘active’ role in plot
- Prosecutors to appeal 1 of 2 acquittals in trial of Hong Kong 47
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