The United States is rescinding a number of special
considerations for Hong Kong in retaliation for what Washington
calls a naked power grab there by China’s central government.
President Trump announced a suite of changes on Friday in what
had been billed as a press conference but which turned out to be an
on-camera statement, after which he took no questions.
Trump did not address other big national stories, including
police violence in Minneapolis or his ongoing feud with
Twitter.
He focused instead on his intent to revoke Hong Kong’s special
customs status, impose some sanctions on officials in the mainland
and Hong Kong governments, and take other steps.
The precise details or their implications weren’t immediately
clear. For example, Trump said he was directing a study of the
“differing practices” involved with Chinese and American companies
in financial markets, arguing that U.S. investors deserved what he
called “fair” treatment.
That could have implications for Chinese companies or banks and
Hong Kong’s status as a major Asian financial center, although
there was no detail about when Trump might get the “study” or what
it could contemplate.
President excoriates Beijing
Sino-American relations have been on a low ebb for years but may
have hit a recent nadir with Trump’s remarks on Friday.
Trump blamed China’s communist government for the global
coronavirus pandemic, which has taken 100,000 American lives and
more broadly sent shock waves around the world.
“The death and destruction caused by this is incalculable,” he
said.
The White House argues that China’s repression and mendacity
meant the world was unprepared for the lethality and contagiousness
of the virus, which originated in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei
Province.
The president has gone back and forth about how strongly he
blames Beijing. Earlier in the pandemic, he alluded to the
coronavirus as “the Chinese virus,” then softened his language, and
then resumed direct condemnations of Chinese authorities on
Friday.
Trump put the pandemic into the context of years of what he
called bad practices and mistreatment by China, including its theft
of hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American intellectual
property. He claimed credit for standing up for the United
States.
Trump and aides also blame the World Health Organization for the
pandemic and the president followed earlier condemnations and
threats on Friday by saying that the U.S. would sever its ties with
the W.H.O.
Washington will divert the roughly $500 million per year it has
paid to the WHO to other global health organizations, Trump said.
Those details weren’t clear either, including which groups or how
quickly.
The United States has been the single biggest funder of the WHO
and the breach announced by Trump raises questions about how it may
be able to move forward.
Anger over Hong Kong
Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have faulted the
mainland government after it asserted more control over the
governance of Hong Kong despite earlier commitments by Beijing to
maintain “two systems” — one for the mainland and one for Hong
Kong.
Hong Kong was a British colony until the late 1990s, when London
agreed to turn over control to Beijing with the proviso that it
enjoy more autonomy and more freedoms, which Hong Kongers had come
to expect under the many years of British rule.
Beijing agreed, but critics in Hong Kong and elsewhere have said
the central government has been steadily eroding the city’s
liberties.
Last year, protesters shut down Hong Kong for weeks with
demonstrations against a proposed law that would have permitted
citizens there to have been sent to the mainland for trial.
Activists said they feared the mainland’s weak protections in
law would open up everyone in Hong Kong to arbitrary Chinese
punishment and further weaken the special status Hong Kong was
supposed to enjoy.
Trump was mostly quiet then, but his tune has changed sharply
since the coronavirus pandemic — which the president blames on the
Chinese government.
Now, Pompeo has made a formal proclamation to Congress that the
United States can no longer consider Hong Kong independent from
China, raising the prospect of changes in its diplomatic
relationship with Washington.
One of the big unresolved questions in the contretemps between
Washington and Beijing is over Taiwan, the independent Republic of
China that is considered a breakaway province by the central
government on the mainland.
The United States has maintained close ties with Taiwan and has
some legal obligations to defend it if attacked by China. But that
relationship hasn’t been tested by a major military crisis and
until now, the mainland government hasn’t been as assertive about
some of its key claims as it has been with Hong Kong.
Trump condemned China’s territorial claims broadly on Friday,
but he did not specify what his position would be on a major
dispute over Taiwan.
www.npr.org/
The United States is rescinding a number of special
considerations for Hong Kong in retaliation for what Washington
calls a naked power grab there by China’s central government.
President Trump announced a suite of changes on Friday in what
had been billed as a press conference but which turned out to be an
on-camera statement, after which he took no questions.
Trump did not address other big national stories, including
police violence in Minneapolis or his ongoing feud with
Twitter.
He focused instead on his intent to revoke Hong Kong’s special
customs status, impose some sanctions on officials in the mainland
and Hong Kong governments, and take other steps.
The precise details or their implications weren’t immediately
clear. For example, Trump said he was directing a study of the
“differing practices” involved with Chinese and American companies
in financial markets, arguing that U.S. investors deserved what he
called “fair” treatment.
That could have implications for Chinese companies or banks and
Hong Kong’s status as a major Asian financial center, although
there was no detail about when Trump might get the “study” or what
it could contemplate.
President excoriates Beijing
Sino-American relations have been on a low ebb for years but may
have hit a recent nadir with Trump’s remarks on Friday.
Trump blamed China’s communist government for the global
coronavirus pandemic, which has taken 100,000 American lives and
more broadly sent shock waves around the world.
“The death and destruction caused by this is incalculable,” he
said.
The White House argues that China’s repression and mendacity
meant the world was unprepared for the lethality and contagiousness
of the virus, which originated in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei
Province.
The president has gone back and forth about how strongly he
blames Beijing. Earlier in the pandemic, he alluded to the
coronavirus as “the Chinese virus,” then softened his language, and
then resumed direct condemnations of Chinese authorities on
Friday.
Trump put the pandemic into the context of years of what he
called bad practices and mistreatment by China, including its theft
of hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American intellectual
property. He claimed credit for standing up for the United
States.
Trump and aides also blame the World Health Organization for the
pandemic and the president followed earlier condemnations and
threats on Friday by saying that the U.S. would sever its ties with
the W.H.O.
Washington will divert the roughly $500 million per year it has
paid to the WHO to other global health organizations, Trump said.
Those details weren’t clear either, including which groups or how
quickly.
The United States has been the single biggest funder of the WHO
and the breach announced by Trump raises questions about how it may
be able to move forward.
Anger over Hong Kong
Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have faulted the
mainland government after it asserted more control over the
governance of Hong Kong despite earlier commitments by Beijing to
maintain “two systems” — one for the mainland and one for Hong
Kong.
Hong Kong was a British colony until the late 1990s, when London
agreed to turn over control to Beijing with the proviso that it
enjoy more autonomy and more freedoms, which Hong Kongers had come
to expect under the many years of British rule.
Beijing agreed, but critics in Hong Kong and elsewhere have said
the central government has been steadily eroding the city’s
liberties.
Last year, protesters shut down Hong Kong for weeks with
demonstrations against a proposed law that would have permitted
citizens there to have been sent to the mainland for trial.
Activists said they feared the mainland’s weak protections in
law would open up everyone in Hong Kong to arbitrary Chinese
punishment and further weaken the special status Hong Kong was
supposed to enjoy.
Trump was mostly quiet then, but his tune has changed sharply
since the coronavirus pandemic — which the president blames on the
Chinese government.
Now, Pompeo has made a formal proclamation to Congress that the
United States can no longer consider Hong Kong independent from
China, raising the prospect of changes in its diplomatic
relationship with Washington.
One of the big unresolved questions in the contretemps between
Washington and Beijing is over Taiwan, the independent Republic of
China that is considered a breakaway province by the central
government on the mainland.
The United States has maintained close ties with Taiwan and has
some legal obligations to defend it if attacked by China. But that
relationship hasn’t been tested by a major military crisis and
until now, the mainland government hasn’t been as assertive about
some of its key claims as it has been with Hong Kong.
Trump condemned China’s territorial claims broadly on Friday,
but he did not specify what his position would be on a major
dispute over Taiwan.
www.npr.org/