Beijing has urged several US lawmakers to “pull back from the brink” after they reintroduced a bill to give the White House the power to close Hong Kong’s three trade offices in the country, vowing retaliation if the proposal progresses any further.
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The Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong issued the warning on Wednesday after US congressmen Chris Smith and James McGovern revived the bipartisan Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act.
A version of the bill cleared a committee in the US Senate in 2023 but never went to the full floor for a vote.
The proposed legislation would empower the White House to strip Hong Kong’s trade offices in New York, San Francisco and Washington of their privileges or close them if they were deemed to operate without a “high degree of autonomy” from the People’s Republic of China.
A spokesman for the commissioner’s office said the three trade offices had played a positive role in promoting Hong Kong-US economic and commercial ties, adding that their operations should not be placed under unreasonable scrutiny.
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“Some US politicians, driven by their own political self-interest, openly smeared and defamed the Hong Kong trade offices. [They are] not only interfering with and disrupting normal Hong Kong-US exchanges and cooperation but also exposing their vicious intention to disrupt Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity,” he said.