BEIJING: China suspended US warship visits and sanctioned American NGOs onMonday in retaliation for the passage of a bill backing pro-democracyprotesters in Hong Kong.
The financial hub has been rocked by nearly six months of increasinglyviolent unrest demanding greater autonomy, which Beijing has frequentlyblamed on foreign influence.
Last week US President Donald Trump signed the Hong Kong Human Rights andDemocracy Act, which requires the president to annually review the city’sfavourable trade status and threatens to revoke it if the semi-autonomousterritory´s freedoms are quashed.
The move came as the world’s two biggest economies have been striving tofinalise a “phase one” deal in their protracted trade war.
“In response to the unreasonable behaviour of the US side, the Chinesegovernment has decided to suspend reviewing the applications for USwarships to go to Hong Kong for (rest and) recuperation as of today,”foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing.
China had already denied requests for two US Navy ships to dock in HongKong in August, without specifying a reason why.
“Operationally, from a military point of view, it doesn’t really make adifference for the US, as they can use many naval bases in the region,”Michael Raska, a security researcher at Singapore’s Nanyang TechnologicalUniversity, told AFP.
However, it “sends a signal that US-China tensions will continue todeepen,” Raska said.
The last US navy ship to visit Hong Kong was the USS Blue Ridge in April.
J. Michael Cole, a Taipei-based senior fellow with the Global TaiwanInstitute, said the move was “mostly symbolic” but yet another sign of the”tit-for-tat escalation which is poisoning the bilateral relationship.”Behaving ‘badly’
Hua said they would also apply sanctions to a number of US-based NGOs,although failed to give any specifics over the form the measures would take.
Sanctions will apply to NGOs that had acted “badly” over the recent unrestin Hong Kong, she said, including the National Endowment for Democracy,Human Rights Watch and Freedom House.
There was “already a large amount of facts and evidence that make it clearthat these non-governmental organisations support anti-China” forces and”incite separatist activities for Hong Kong independence”, Hua said.
She accused them of having “great responsibility for the chaotic situationin Hong Kong”.
Protesters in Hong Kong are pushing for greater democratic freedoms andpolice accountability, but the city’s pro-Beijing leadership has refusedany major political concessions.
The increasingly violent rallies have hammered the retail and tourismsectors, with mainland Chinese visitors abandoning the city in droves.
The city´s finance chief warned on Monday that Hong Kong is set to recordits first budget deficit in 15 years. -APP/AFP