Pompeo slammed for chiding HSBC’s support of HK national security law

The Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday slammed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for sowing discord, calling his view “narrow-minded” and “ridiculous” after Pompeo chided British bank HSBC for supporting the national security legislation for Hong Kong.

Chinese mainland experts urged Western banks and other financial institutions in Hong Kong to respect China’s laws and be responsible to their clients instead of betraying the clients’ information to serve foreign forces, or they may also be punished by national security laws.

Hua Chunying, spokesperson of Chinese foreign ministry, stressed that Hong Kong affairs are China’s internal affairs that brook no foreign interference, and urged the

US side to take a correct view of the legislation, stop sowing discord, stirring up trouble and interfering in China’s internal affairs using Hong Kong issues, and do more to contribute to Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability, rather than the other way round.

HSBC had been under tremendous pressure in recent days. Legal experts pointed to previous legal documents that they said showed HSBC might have set a trap for Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou.

Lü Xiang, a research fellow on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that whether HSBC or other financial institutions, they should realize that if they want to do business in Hong Kong, they cannot use their influence and expertise to serve foreign forces, especially serving the long-arm jurisdiction against Chinese firms.

“This is also related to China’s national security. Support of the new legislation by Western financial institutes in Hong Kong is a positive move that should be welcomed, but they need to show their support through actions,” Lü said.