Beijing says new HK laws won’t harm investors, urges countries to stop “meddling”
HONG KONG/BEIJING, (Reuters) - China’s foreign ministry branch in Hong Kong dismissed concerns that its proposed national security laws for the city would harm foreign investors, hitting back at “meddling” countries as Beijing’s ties with Washington soured further.
The security legislation, which could see Chinese intelligence agencies set up bases in Hong Kong, has sent chills through the business and diplomatic communities, spooked financial markets and escalated geopolitical tensions.
U.S. government officials have said the legislation would end the Chinese-ruled city’s autonomy and would be bad for both Hong Kong’s and China’s economies. They said it could jeopardise the territory’s special status in U.S. law, which has helped it maintain its position as a global financial centre.
Hong Kong is caught in the crosshairs of a Beijing-Washington conflict developing on many fronts. After trade disputes and reciprocal accusations over the source and handling of the coronavirus pandemic, Washington on Friday accused the Chinese government of making it impossible for U.S. airlines to resume service to China.
Britain, Australia and Canada expressed “deep concern” in a joint statement about the proposed security laws which they said would undermine the “one country, two systems” principle agreed when Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Bankers and headhunters said it
could lead to money and talent leaving the city. Hong Kong stocks slumped 5.6% on Friday, and sent chills through global markets.
A spokesperson of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China in Hong Kong said in a statement the city’s high degree of autonomy “will remain unchanged, and the interests of foreign investors in the city will continue to be protected under the law”.
Beijing’s move comes after prodemocracy protests in 2019 plunged Hong Kong into its biggest political crisis since the handover. Communist authorities see the protests as a security threat and blame the West for fomenting unrest.
The commissioner’s office described statements by “meddling countries” as “double standard and gangster logic”.
“No matter how venomously you smear, provoke, coerce or blackmail us, the Chinese people will remain rock-firm in safeguarding national sovereignty and security,” it said.
“Doomed is your plot to undermine China’s sovereignty and security by exploiting the troublemakers in Hong Kong as pawns and the city as a frontier for secession, subversion, infiltration and sabotage activities against China.”
Chris Patten, the last governor of the former British colony, said China has betrayed the people of Hong Kong.