Several top US Democratic lawmakers chided US President Donald Trump on Tuesday for easing sanctions recently on Chinese and Hong Kong officials who, they said, were “complicit in Beijing’s dismantling of Hong Kong’s autonomy”.
“We write to express serious concern,” the four-page letter said. “It raises serious questions about the durability of US policy towards Hong Kong that we believe warrant a direct response from the administration.”
On July 14, the US allowed its designation of Hong Kong as an area worthy of “national emergency” concern to lapse, although a 2020 executive order remains in place categorising the special administrative region as “no longer sufficiently autonomous” to justify different treatment than the Mainland.
This modification removed nine of the 48 previously sanctioned officials from the list, including several top security officials and Justice Secretary Paul Lam Ting-kwok. This effectively ended restrictions on their ability to use the US banking system or access any US assets.
The change also saw 39 others – including former chief executives Carrie Lam and John Lee as well as the previously cited National People’s Congress Standing Committee leadership – moved to a different sanctions list that removed some restrictions, including a prior ban on importing goods.
The US Treasury noted on its website that the expiration did not apply to or affect two related US laws, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, or the Hong Kong Autonomy Act of 2020.
Tuesday’s four-page letter, released on Congress of the United States stationery, was signed by two Senators and seven Congressmen, including top Democrats on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, the House Select Committee on China and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee did not immediately comment on why it waited a month to release the letter or whether it expected a response from the Trump administration, which has often been dismissive of Congressional oversight.
The lawmakers noted that the national emergency status underpinning Executive Order 13936, signed by Trump during his first term, was renewed every year since 2020, without interruption until last month.
Yet Beijing’s moves to “dismantle Hong Kong’s autonomy” continue to pose “an unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security, foreign policy and economic interests, it said, adding: “Nothing in the intervening years suggests that threat has diminished.”
In fact, the US lawmakers said, the US State Department’s own 2026 Hong Kong Conditions Report said that Beijing and Hong Kong authorities “systematically degraded Hong Kong’s political autonomy and civilians’ rights and freedoms” in 2025, including continued acts of transnational repression and new subsidiary legislation empowering Beijing’s Office of Safeguarding National Security inside Hong Kong.
Also around the same time the changes were announced, Hong Kong’s national security police raided two independent bookshops and arrested five people on suspicion of selling “seditious” publications, the lawmakers added, the third such crackdown on booksellers in four months.
The letter also raised concerns that during economic and trade consultations in Madrid in September, led by Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the United States made commitments concerning Hong Kong and investment-related issues.
“If accurate, this would mean that sanctions relief for officials responsible for prosecuting pro-democracy activists was used as a bargaining chip in unrelated trade negotiations,” the Democratic lawmakers said.
The lawmakers said Trump’s actions create uncertainty for Hong Kong human rights defenders, journalists and civil society figures who have relied on the continuity of US sanctions; potentially confuse companies and financial institutions over shifting rules; and send mixed signals to Chinese authorities on the durability of US policy.
The Chinese embassy in Washington said maintaining Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability serves the shared interests of both countries.
“It is hoped that the US side will abide by relevant international conventions and the consensus reached between the two sides,” the spokesperson said, “and play a positive role in building a constructive, strategically stable relationship between China and the United States.”
Last month, the Hong Kong government called the decision to ease sanctions “an important step” towards implementing a US-China consensus, amid signs of easing tensions between the world’s two largest economies. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
