BIG IDEA | 'State department concludes territory should not receive preferential treatment under US law.'

‘The Biden administration has concluded that Hong Kong should not receive preferential treatment under US law after Beijing cracked down on the pro-democracy movement and undermined autonomy in the territory.’

• ‘Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, said Hong Kong did not warrant the preferential status that the former British colony was given when it was returned to China in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” model that was supposed to guarantee its autonomy for five decades.’
• ‘ “Over the past year . . . China has continued to dismantle Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, in violation of its obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and Hong Kong’s Basic Law,” Blinken said in making the annual determination to Congress required by the Hong Kong Policy Act.’

‘Last year, Donald Trump became the first US president to declare that Hong Kong was no longer sufficiently autonomous from China to deserve special status, which includes trade privileges.’