US cannot use Hong Kong as bargaining chip in trade war, says Global Times China

PETALING JAYA: The United States cannot use Hong Kong as a bargaining chip in the current US-China trade negotiations as it will not be able to influence Beijing's decision, according to China's Global Times.

"Political and public opinion elites in the United States must understand that although they have the ability to instigate Hong Kong's radical protesters, they absolutely cannot influence Beijing's decisions on Hong Kong's situation," the state-owned news portal said in its editorial.

"Some Americans still believe the United States is capable of anything, and can even issue orders to a major power like China," added the editorial put up Monday (Aug 19) night.

Hong Kong has been rocked by anti-China protests and violent demonstrations for 11 weeks since mid-June. Beijing has accused of the United States, United Kingdom and Taiwan of instigating and aiding the protestors.

In the editorial, Global Times noted that China had borne the "unprecedentedly large tariff sticks and the US suppression" on Huawei and other Chinese companies due to its refusal to agree to an unfair trade deal.

"After all of these, none of the United States threats to impose sanctions on China will have any deterrent effect. China does not need to consider the US attitude when making decisions," said Global Times.

Reiterating the official position of China, Global Times said Beijing hopes for a soft landing of the Hong Kong problem and added Hong Kong's internal forces can restore order with the central government's support.

"But if Hong Kong cannot restore order by itself, Beijing's strong intervention will be the only choice. It is stipulated in the Basic Law.

"The United States should stop its meaningless threat of linking the China-US trade talks with the Hong Kong problem."

On the trade war, it said Beijing does not expect to quickly reach a trade deal with Washington.

"More Chinese people are prepared that China and the United States may not reach a deal for a long time. If Washington wants to link trade talks with Hong Kong under such circumstances, it so flatters itself."