HONG KONG: Hong Kong lashed out on the US Home of Representatives on Wednesday (Sep 11) for passing a Invoice that might probably shut the Chinese language metropolis’s commerce outposts throughout the US.
The US Home voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday in favour of the Hong Kong Financial and Commerce Workplace Certification (HKETO) Act, which might require a assessment of the privileges, exemptions and immunities loved by town’s commerce workplaces situated in New York, Washington and San Francisco.
The workplaces must shut down inside 180 days in the event that they had been discovered to not be working with “a excessive diploma of autonomy” from China.
The Invoice should be handed by the US Senate earlier than it may be signed into impact by President Joe Biden.
Nevertheless, its Home passage drew a pointy rebuke from Hong Kong’s secretary of commerce on Wednesday, who stated there was “no motive” for it.
“It’s purely political (to) slander the law safeguarding the national security of Hong Kong,” Algernon Yau instructed reporters.
The Hong Kong authorities condemned the Home of Representatives earlier on Wednesday, saying that its “fact-twisting assault on Hong Kong … grossly interferes within the affairs of Hong Kong”.
China’s overseas ministry additionally heaped criticism on the Invoice, saying on Wednesday that it “intentionally tarnishes Hong Kong’s overseas institutions“.
“We categorical robust dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to the US’s hostile actions in manipulating points associated to Hong Kong and suppressing Hong Kong’s growth,” spokesperson Mao Ning stated at a daily briefing.
“China urges the US to cease advancing the Invoice to keep away from additional injury to the steadiness and development of China-US relations,” she stated. “If the US insists on going its personal approach, China will take sensible and efficient measures to resolutely counteract it.”
