National Security

China Says US Is Using ‘Gangster Logic’ In Response To Hong Kong Security Law That Punishes Subversion

(Photo by ISAAC LAWRENCE/AFP via Getty Images)

Marlo Safi Culture Reporter
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Following President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke Hong Kong’s special status with the U.S. due to China’s new security law in the territory, Beijing accused the U.S. of “gangster logic,” marking a continued erosion in the relationship between the two world powers, numerous sources reported.

“Unreasonable meddling and shameless threats by the United States are typical gangster logic and bullying behaviour,” Beijing’s liaison officer in Hong Kong said in a statement late on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

The national security law took effect July 1 and undercuts many freedoms, outlawing subversion and secession in Hong Kong after long-running pro-democracy protests. Hong Kong and China had operated under a “one country, two systems” relationship since the territory’s sovereignty was transferred from Britain to China in 1997, but China has aggressively tightened its grip on Hong Kong in recent months.

Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to end preferential economic treatment for Hong Kong, which will allow him to impose sanctions and visa restrictions on Chinese officials and businesses seen as helping China restrict Hong Kong’s autonomy. 

“Beijing’s disastrous decision is only the latest in a series of actions that fundamentally undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms and China’s own promises to the Hong Kong people under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a U.N.-filed international treaty,” Pompeo said in a statement in May.

Without special status with the U.S., “there won’t be big differences between Hong Kong and other big Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai,” Simon Lee, senior lecturer of international business at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told CNN Business

This could prompt foreign companies to reconsider the existing scale of their operations in Hong Kong, which benefited from its privilege as a special economy with the U.S. during the trade war with China by allowing the territory to avoid tariffs imposed on Chinese goods. 

China has threatened retaliatory sanctions against U.S. officials and entities, and said it would punish Lockheed Martin for selling arms to Taiwan, according to CNN Business. 

Republican Colorado Rep. Ken Buck and 24 other GOP lawmakers pressed Trump to ban TikTok Wednesday as lawmakers focus their attention on national security concerns presented by the Chinese Communist Party. (RELATED: Rep. Ken Buck Spearheads Campaign Pressing Trump To Ban TikTok Over National Security Concerns)