Hong Kong will ‘go to hell’ under Chinese rule: Trump
My mindset has changed on China since they allowed the plague. It’s before plague and ater plague. Right now I view China differently than I did before plague, says US president
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Hong Kong’s global financial centre will “go to hell” under tightened Chinese rule.
“Hong Kong can never succeed having China as opposed to the thousands of geniuses that ran it, having China run it,” Trump told Fox Business news. “The Hong Kong markets will go to hell. Nobody’s going to do business.”
Trump announced in May that he was ending the special US trading relationship with Hong Kong in retaliation for Beijing’s clampdown on the previously largely autonomous territory.
Trump told Fox Business that the end to the special status meant that Hong Kong would lose its ability to atract business and serve as one of the world’s chief financial hubs, along with New York and London.
Trump said he had approved of the longstanding relationship, which amounted to a “tremendous amount of money in the form of incentives to make Hong Kong free.”
But “once China got aggressive and took it over, I took everything back. Everything’s back now and it will fail,” he said.
Trump has made a trade war with China, followed by a truce at the start of this year, a pillar of his foreign policy.
However, hopes for a follow-up “phase two” trade deal that would resolve some of the underlying issues in the rivalry between the world’s two largest economies have been dashed by tensions over the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump has seen his election chances seriously hurt by fallout from the pandemic and is increasingly focusing blame on China, where the virus first appeared.
“My mindset has changed on China since they allowed the plague,” he said.
“It’s before plague and ater plague. Right now I view China differently than I did before plague.”
Asked, however, if he agreed with critics that President Xi Jinping should step aside, he answered: “Look, they’re running their country. We’re running our country.”
Meanwhile, Japan’s foreign minister said the arrests of Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow and media tycoon Jimmy Lai raised questions over freedom of speech and the press in Hong Kong and Tokyo’s concerns over the situation were growing.
Chow, released on bail ater her arrest under the new National Security Law, earlier thanked Japanese people for their outpouring of support, urging them not to forget Hong Kong.
“Japan’s grave concerns regarding the situation in Hong Kong are geting stronger,” Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said, speaking from Singapore to reporters via an online system.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government, seeking to keep ties with Beijing on an even keel, has been somewhat circumspect in its comments on Hong Kong.
Monday’s arrest of 23-year-old Chow, a fluent Japanese speaker who oten tweeted in Japanese and has been dubbed the “goddess of democracy” by Japan’s media, was top news this week in the country, where the hashtag #Freeagnes trended on Twiter.
“Thank you so much,” Chow said in a brief Japanese-language segment of a Chineselanguage video about 24 hours ater her release on bail late on Tuesday. “I hope the people of Japan will keep paying atention to Hong Kong,” she added.
A cross-party group of lawmakers, including members of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, has condemned the arrests, urging the government to refuse any requests for evidence based on the security law, and to ease visa restrictions on Hong Kong residents.
Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed government called the group’s statement incorrect and inappropriate.
The crackdown on pro-democracy opposition in Hong Kong has drawn international criticism and raised fears for freedoms promised by Beijing under a “one country, two systems” model.
The city’s government and Chinese authorities say the law is needed to restore order ater sometimes violent anti-government protests last year.
Chow last posted on her Japanese-language Twiter account on June 30, saying, “As long as we live, there is hope.”