Update (2035ET): As expected, China has responded to President Trump’s decision to sign the Hong Kong bill (out of respect for Xi?). China’s foreign ministry says in a statement that America’s decision was “a naked hegemonic act” without offering any details on possible retaliation.
The United States signed the so-called “Hong Kong Bill of Rights and Democracy” into law. This move seriously interfered with Hong Kong affairs, seriously interfered with China’s internal affairs, and seriously violated international law and basic norms of international relations. It was a naked hegemonic act, and the Chinese government and people firmly opposed it.
Since the return of Hong Kong to the motherland, “one country, two systems” has achieved universally recognized success, and Hong Kong residents enjoy unprecedented democratic rights in accordance with the law. The United States ignored the facts, turned black and white, and blatantly supported the violent criminals who smashed and burned innocent people, trampled against the rule of law, and endangered social order. They are extremely bad in nature and very dangerous. Their fundamental purpose is to undermine Hong Kong ’s prosperity and stability, The great practice of “one country, two systems” undermines the historical process of the Chinese nation’s great rejuvenation.
We must tell the US side that Hong Kong is Hong Kong of China, and Hong Kong affairs are purely China’s internal affairs. No foreign government or power has the right to interfere. This so-called bill will only make the Chinese people, including our compatriots in Hong Kong, more aware of the sinister intentions and hegemonic nature of the United States, and it will only make the Chinese people more committed. The US plot is doomed.
The Chinese Government is unwavering in its determination to oppose any external forces interfering in Hong Kong affairs, its determination to implement the “one country, two systems” policy, and its determination to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests. We advise the United States not to act arbitrarily, or China will resolutely counteract it, and all consequences arising therefrom must be borne by the United States.
How does Trump’s administration bullshit their way out of this by claiming a trade deal is close? Xi will be forced to respond, leaving Trump unable to offer a lifting of the imminent tariff threat.
As we detailed earlier, less than an hour after Trump once again paraded with yet another all-time high in the S&P…
New Stock Market Record today, AGAIN. Congratulations USA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2019
… and on day 510 of the trade war, it appears the president was confident enough that a collapse in trade talks won’t drag stocks too far lower, and moments after futures reopened at 6pm, the White House said that Trump had signed the Hong Kong bill backing pro-democracy protesters, defying China and making sure that every trader’s Thanksgiving holiday was just ruined.
In a late Wednesday statement from the White House, Trump said that:
I signed these bills out of respect for President Xi, China, and the people of Hong Kong. They are being enacted in the hope that Leaders and Representatives of China and Hong Kong will be able to amicably settle their differences leading to long term peace and prosperity for all.
Needless to say, no differences will be “settled amicably” and now China will have no choice but to retaliate, aggressively straining relations with the US, and further complicating Trump’s effort to wind down his nearly two-year old trade war with Beijing.
Trump’s signing of the bill comes during a period of unprecedented unrest in Hong Kong, where anti-government protests sparked by a now-shelved extradition bill proposal have ballooned into broader calls for democratic reform and police accountability.
“The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act reaffirms and amends the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992, specifies United States policy towards Hong Kong and directs assessment of the political developments in Hong Kong,” the White House said in a statement. “Certain provisions of the act would interfere with the exercise of the president’s constitutional authority to state the foreign policy of the United States.”
The legislation, S. 1838, which was passed virtually unanimously in both chambers, requires annual reviews of Hong Kong’s special trade status under American law and will allow Washington to suspend said status in case the city does not retain a sufficient degree of autonomy under the “one country, two systems” framework. The bill also sanctions any officials deemed responsible for human rights abuses or undermining the city’s autonomy.
The House cleared the bill 417-1 on Nov. 20 after the Senate passed it without opposition, veto-proof majorities that left Trump with little choice but to acquiesce, or else suffer bruising fallout from his own party. the GOP.
Trump also signed into law the PROTECT Hong Kong act, which will prohibit the sale of US-made munitions such as tear gas and rubber bullets to the city’s authorities.
While many members of Congress in both parties have voiced strong support for protesters demanding more autonomy for the city, Trump had stayed largely silent, even as the demonstrations have been met by rising police violence.
Until now.
The bill’s author, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, said that with the legislation’s enactment, the US now had “new and meaningful tools to deter further influence and interference from Beijing into Hong Kong’s internal affairs.”
In accordance with the law, the Commerce Department will have 180 days to produce a report examining whether the Chinese government has tried use Hong Kong’s special trading status to import advanced “dual use” technologies in violation of US export control laws. Dual use technologies are those that can have commercial and military applications.
One other less discussed but notable provision of the Hong Kong Human Rights Act targets media outlets affiliated with China’s government. The new law directs the US secretary of state to “clearly inform the government of the People’s Republic of China that the use of media outlets to spread disinformation or to intimidate and threaten its perceived enemies in Hong Kong or in other countries is unacceptable.”
The state department should take any such activity “into consideration when granting visas for travel and work in the United States to journalists from the People’s Republic of China who are affiliated with any such media organizations”, the law says.
* * *
In the days leading up to Trump’s signature, China’s foreign ministry had urged Trump to prevent the legislation from becoming law, warning the Americans not to underestimate China’s determination to defend its “sovereignty, security and development interests.”
“If the U.S. insists on going down this wrong path, China will take strong countermeasures,” said China’s foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a briefing Thursday in Beijing. On Monday, China’s Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summoned the U.S. ambassador, Terry Branstad to express “strong opposition” to what the country’s government considers American interference in the protests, including the legislation, according to statement.
The new U.S. law comes just as Washington and Beijing showed signs of working toward “phase-one” of deal to ease the trade war. Trump would like the agreement finished in order to ease economic uncertainty for his re-election campaign in 2020, and has floated the possibility of signing the deal in a farm state as an acknowledgment of the constituency that’s borne the brunt of retaliatory Chinese tariffs.
Last week China’s Vice Premier and chief trade negotiator Liu He said before a speech at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Beijing, that he was “cautiously optimistic” about reaching the phase one accord. He will now have no choice but to amend his statement.
In anticipation of a stern Chinese rebuke, US equity futures tumbled, wiping out most of the previous day’s gains…
… while the yuan slumped over 100 pips in kneejerk response.
Still, the generally modest pullback – the S&P was around 2,940 when Trump announced the Phase 1 deal on Oct 11 – suggests that despite Trump’s signature, markets expect a Chinese deal to still come through. That may be an aggressive and overly “hopeful” assumption, especially now that China now longer has a carte blanche to do whatever it wants in Hong Kong, especially in the aftermath of this weekend’s landslide victory for the pro-Democracy camp which won in 17 of the city’s 18 districts.
“Following last weekend’s historic elections in Hong Kong that included record turnout, this new law could not be more timely in showing strong US support for Hongkongers’ long-cherished freedoms,” said Rubio.
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Fuck China. They’re communist pieces of shit. They deserve what they get.
I hope Trump keeps ramming his foot as far up their asses as he possibly can.
Consider this retaliation for hijacking the government to your north who are now allowing the Chicoms to install their fucking 5G spyware on the US’ border.
Traitors – all of them.
Wish we had been doing that for the last 20 years. Klinton sold us out lock-stock-and-barrel to the ChiComs and still owes us for that treachery.
We should pull out of WTO so we can revoke Most Favored Nation trade status with China.
Yep and lots of RINO’s are traitors taking the 30 pieces of silver also….Justin Amash has business interests in China and suddenly became a Never Trumper. Di Fi had a Chinese spy as a driver for 20 years and of course, Hunter Biden got $1.5B for his private equity fund…..traveling on Air Force 2 with daddy VP Joe “Quid Pro Joe” Biden…..I can tell you also that the theft of intellectual property by the Chicom tech companies is both ubiquitous and military controlled. Much as I hate Cisco they have been fucked by China repeatedly. The 5G system will be very invasive with the IOT (Internet of Things) and we simply cannot have the Chicom military deep into our infrastructure with backdoors etc…..Fuck China…..We gave them an incredible opportunity to join the First World and prosper with free trade…..but they are greedy fucks that decided empire was more important than raising the standard of living of their people….typical elites. Trump ain’t perfect but he is well aware of the threat over the longer term and taking steps to address…..better that than selling us out like Bush I, Clinton, Bush II and the Kenyan.
Great comment, Marty. The Chicoms have been screwing us for decades. Now it’s time for the US to do a little screwing. The US buys much of their worthless crap. If they mess with that, who’s gonna buy it?
America has a fetish for cheap crap….I hate it but that’s how we roll. So cheap crap will continue to come in….but the cool thing is that the supply chain is rapidly being relocated to other Asian countries, India and yes even back to North America…..So China is well and truly screwed…no matter what happens China Inc. is done. American and other non-China companies have seen China for what they are…just another authoritarian commie regime, murderous and duplicitous. Hell they have 1M+ Muslims in concentration/re-education camps in Western China…..not folks you want to do business with.
I did not know North America was in Asia. Hammerhead is smarter than I thought.
+100
As well the domestic communist bastards. California, Virginia, Schiff and federal and state judges immediately come to mind.
You ain’t gone far enough.
China owns Hong Kong. The people of China are owned by their communist government. China is working diligently to control even more of the world and that means the people of the world.
We woke up to snow today. It was raining yesterday and the folks who live in Tehachapi had to go home early. The rain stopped around noon here and we had no hint that it would start snowing as it did at 4 am today. Slowly at first and then big fluffy flakes by 8 am. Just like that we went from a sunny day one day to a blanket of war across the land.
A lot of people derided old Fred as being drunk for talking about a US invasion of Mexico. Last week, Mexico reacted to a proposal to declare drug smugglers terrorist organizations. That would enable the US to enter Mexico with an armed force much larger than there is in Mexico right now. It is no surprise to anybody but the people of the US that America is seeking a hot war south of the border.
The bigwigs have decided there are too many people on the planet. Disease, famine and war usually take care of the excess so the better class remains secure. To that end, the US needs to have battle tested fighters. A hot war south of the border is just practice for bigger things to come. Black Jack Pershing took to Europe an army that had already trained in the Mexico expedition.
There are too many people in the developed part of the world. That I have observed myself. What has to be done is to develop the undeveloped parts of the world. To do this the world needs leaders with a vision.
I think it was Holly O who said if they leveled all the playing fields, we’d all be under water. I said that if everybody were rich, everybody would be poor. Rich countries live off the poor countries. Keeping them poor and powerless allows the rich countries to plunder them more easily. It is naive to think they could pull themselves up by their bootstraps when the hegemons want them underfoot.
Prosperity is a mindset. Developed countries have this mindset. Undeveloped countries don’t have this mindset.
This is why the developed countries are the light of the world despite the corruption of our leaders. This is why so many are storming our borders to get in.
The only way to preserve the abundance our prosperity mindset has given us is to start helping the undeveloped countries to develop their resources for their people and teach the people to cultivate a mindset of prosperity.
We can start with our neighbor mexico. One resource that can be developed and increased abundantly is the biosphere. Another resource needing development is fresh water. Contrary to what many misinformed experts are saying water is not in short supply. What is in short supply is infrastructure like canals to transport this fresh water to areas it is needed.
The weak link in our governing bodies is people who have no vision and no ability to think big. We have scientists who vision we will someday colonize Mars yet we can’t transfer water from the melting arctic regions to the deserts? What a contradiction.
I read a long time ago that the Bushes secured a source of fresh water somewhere in South America. A news blurb reported how drinking coke was cheaper than getting fresh drinking water in some part of Mexico. You might think it backwards stuff that can only happen in so-called turd world countries but a recent article said the same thing is happening here in the US where cities have dirty drinking water. Yet, Nestle makes a killing buying up cheap clean water from Cali and other places. They’d sell us oxygen if they could find a way to secure it and restrict your access to it.
In the first part of the 20th century our leaders had great vision and built the water systems, dams and and reservoirs that now supply water to millions in the western United States including the millions that live in Los Angeles. 80 years later and the system is maxed out.
Where is the vision of our leaders of today that looks another 80 years ahead?
Today’s technology far exceeds the technology of the early 20th century. There is no excuse for the failure of providing water for the needs of the people in the 21st century. The failure is in our leaders of today who have no vision.
Our leaders of today need to be engineers and educated men in the sciences; not lawyers and billionaires.
Dangit, EC,
You reminded me how much I miss Holly O. Really enjoyed her input. I pray she is well, wherever she is!!!
I suspect that she didn’t impress T4C who called her H.O. and that’s all you need to know.
ec,
here’s an article from over on lew rockwell’s site that says Under population will be the defining event of the 21st century–
Unless I am imagining things, it appears that Trump’s actions in regards to China has thrown them for a loop. Normally they don’t seem to care even remotely about what other countries say or do in regards to their policies, now they are in a constant state of reacting to Trump. I just don’t think they’ve ever run into someone who operates like he does.
Can’t wait to see how it all plays out.
Yes, HardFarmer, Trump has them in a giant WTF moment.
This is a continuation of the Bush intervention to keep Saddam from replacing the petro-dollar. With everybody and his mother interested in crypto, it is telling that the fed opposes it. China is screwed economically and they are seeking to replace the dollar hegemony with gold backed crypto coin. They are also seeking to circumvent the dollar with a direct pipe to Iran. Trump wants to keep the pressure on them to prevent the ME pipeline. If it goes through, I imagine the US would send bombers to destroy it like the Europeans bombed the Libyan great man-made river.
What about China’s new silk road project? Are we going to bomb that too? I question if China is screwed economically. The reality of their vision (the new silk road) does not suggest that.
What makes you suggest, “China is screwed economically”?
I’m only talking about what I read concerning China’s banks and the news that Amazon is expanding elsewhere due to the US consumer going under.
Trillions of malinvestment in unoccupied cities, zombie banks with oceans of bad loans to factories no longer supplying cheap shit to America….yeah they are totally fucked. Silk Road is simply the expansionist Chicoms stealth shylock operation. They loan made-up money to Low IQ countries to stupid to understand they will never pay back the loans, then the Chicoms foreclose and thereby expand the Empire!
Any threat to the USD as the world’s reserve currency will be attacked by the US Military…..BTW what happened to your emotional support puppy .22Winmag aka Popgun?
You miss him, hammerhead?
In an odd way I do. I am much more of a softie than my aggro words would lead one to believe. Did he rage quit snd I missed it? Been traveling and working a lot.
Make America Great Again.
What that statement means to me is bringing manufacturing back to America. This means our trade deals with China has to fail. And it appears the President is playing his hand with China in a way to create this failure. In other words the positive outcome for America of our trade deal with China is in it’s failure.
America has been stagnant for a long time. This has been the result of poor leadership in government from the top down to the local level. Stagnation is at the root of our most serious problems like low paying jobs, lack of affordable housing, homelessness, and an educational system that does not prepare young people to take a role as a productive citizen in their community.
Just let me say that the professional class has done well but the professional class has made out because of government regulations and controlling monopolies. But the professional class is not in the majority. For example lawyers are so plentiful because of the spread of administrative law, rules and regulations that have stopped growth and supported monopolies. When much of this law is repealed to allow new growth so will the number of lawyers.
Seventy five percent of our population live in the cities. The cities take up a small portion of this country’s land mass from sea to shining sea. So what does this say? It says that the majority of the land in our country is waiting for development.
This is where leaders with vision and know how are needed. And the federal government has to be restructured to meet the needs of the people.
As the impeachment hearings have shown us many government officials and political appointments are in office pushing a different agenda of policy than the executive branch. It appears that government needs to be purged and new blood with loyalty to a new vision for our country needs to be put in place.
The reason for so much division and lack of initiative in people is because “The Thrill is Gone.” The era of the growth of this country under the boomers has matured and is coming to an end and has been replaced with the straitjacket of administrative law that stops growth in new directions.
The China US trade deal is doomed. China knows it and so does the President. China is putting it’s money and resources into it’s new silk road projects to continue it’s grow. What is the United States doing?
The President was counting on corporate america to kick start our growth with new manufacturing plants in this country but it looks like their investors and CEO’s are not co-operating.
Which means their demise is coming with the failure of the trade talks.
I think the next four years of President Trump is going to bring big changes in the government and the path of america.
Get ready for a fantastic ride.
“The President was counting on corporate america to kick start our growth with new manufacturing plants in this country but it looks like their investors and CEO’s are not co-operating.”
Exactly how are investors not cooperating? I think it is consumers who are not cooperating because they are tapped out, maxed out and full up. I see houses surrounded by cars and imagine they have a tv in every room. They have all kinds of electronic gizmos and monitoring systems with online shopping apparatuses. The next big thing is sex robots that will be promoted as personal masseuses or something like that.