Congress approves US$1.6 billion for China bashing propaganda fund

Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government

The Americans are all over us as if there was no tomorrow. The House of Representatives, the congress, has declared the past few weeks as “China Weeks” dedicated to degrading Hong Kong/China as much as possible on the world stage. It is showing signs of panic.

Last week alone congress passed a US$1.6 billion fund to be used for anti-China propaganda over the next five years. Earlier in the week it moved to close down all Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices in the US, and the week before that the administration issued two advisory notices, one to dissuade American tourists from visiting Hong Kong and the other to dissuade businesses setting up in Hong Kong.

The reasons for this backlash are totally unfounded. What has Hong Kong done to deserve such treatment? Nothing! Hong Kong is a small pimple on China’s bum, minding its own business without breaking any trade barriers.

The only conclusion one can draw is that the Americans are in panic overdrive due to the perceived threat by Hong Kong/China to the US hegemony, which is not their intention at all. Whereas the US dominates the world with the threat of war, China, on the other hand, walks with an olive branch lifting countries out of poverty through its Belt and Road Initiative. The offer by China for world peace is exactly the opposite to the US’s quest for world supremacy through war.

The US’s massive spend on China propaganda will not be found in the country’s main stream media (MSM) due to its control by the US Department of State. (DoS), but in small specialist, obscure publications such as Responsible Statecraft. The Bill HR1157 “Countering the PRC Malign Influence Fund” can easily be found on the internet. The legislation authorizes more than $1.6 billion for the State Department and USAID over the next five years to, among other purposes, subsidize media and civil society sources around the world that counter Chinese “malign influence” globally. In other words, the US Department of State is paying off the media to print what it says.

The Global Engagement Centre of the DoS is already spending large sums subsidizing media and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to disparage Hong Kong/China and the new injection of cash will surely supercharge its efforts.

But the US politicians are their own worst enemy as far as propaganda is concerned. For example, chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) , John Moolenaar, said in a debate on the Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act that there was “indisputable evidence” that two CCP-aligned battery makers were deeply connected with forced labour and ongoing genocide in China. The “indisputable evidence” came from the very dubious Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), which has become the Australian mouthpiece for the Five Eyes intelligence group lead by the US with Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Great Britain as its members. ASPI said that battery projects in Australia were sourced through forced labour of Uyghur and other Turkic ethnic groups in China.

Moolenaar completed his tirade with:” We cannot be dependent on our foremost adversary and we must ensure the CCP can never profit from its genocide and human rights abuses.”

And they are still harping on forced Uyghur labour in Zhenjiang, a myth impregnated in the minds of the west, but which could not be proven by the UNHCR. This argument is becoming rather tiresome, but for the Americans, if a lie is told repeatably enough it becomes believable.

Earlier, congress voted to eliminate the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices (ETOs) in New York, Washington and San Franciso and at the same time the administration advised possible investors in Hong Kong not to do business in the Special Administration Region (SAR) because of stringent national security laws. But the laws in Hong Kong are no more stringent than that the US. In fact, the US is imposing its own laws on US businesses in Hong Kong by advising that any businesses operating in Hong Kong face conflicting jurisdictional requirements and liability in connection with (US-imposed) sanctions compliance efforts. “Failure to adhere to US sanctions can result in civil and criminal penalties under US law,” a statement by the Department of State read.

The administration also issued another advisory warning that visitors to Hong Kong could be jailed for the most trivial offences under the national security laws. This is pure poppycock as tourism figures reveal. In the first six months of this year, Hong Kong received half a million visitors from the US, up 86.2 per cent for the same period last year.

The propaganda tug-o-war between the two super powers has been initiated by the US, with China merely taking a defensive line to rebut US criticisms; to remain silent would be to acquiesce.

Mark Pinkstone

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Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government

The United States is so hellbent on destroying Hong Kong that it is now advising its business community not to do business in the region. This follows hot on the heels of another advisory warning people not to visit Hong Kong or they could be jailed for trivial matters.

On September 6, a joint effort by the US Departments of State, Agriculture, Commerce, Homeland Security and the Treasury issued a Hong Kong Business Advisory of “the imposition of bounties, may negatively affect businesses’ staff, finances, legal compliance, reputation and operations.”

What a load of hogwash!

About 70,000 Americans living in Hong Kong can testify that this is rubbish, otherwise they wouldn’t be here. Since the handover in 1997, there are now more Americans living in Hong Kong than British. And about 1,100 American companies established in Hong Kong employ about 10 per cent of our workforce.

The joint statement was issued under the umbrella of the mindless State Department, which has nothing better to do than meddle in other country’s affairs. Its policy for the Asia-Pacific region is to contain Hong Kong/China as much as possible and to use any means possible, such as meaningless advisories, to obtain its objective. This includes multiple sanctions against various people, companies and goods. And although Hong Kong is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in its own right, the dictatorial US has decreed that the label of “made in Hong Kong” cannot be used on any goods exported to the US.

The advisory went on to warn that businesses operating in Hong Kong face potential legal, regulatory, operational, financial and reputational risks, including of increased scrutiny potential financial penalties and legal actions for perceived violations of the National Security Laws and the National Security Ordinance.

WOW! All of that without a shred of evidence. The Americans living here must feel embarrassed by the proliferation of false narratives from the State Department. The Americans in Hong Kong are a vital part of the community. They are well respected, and they contribute significantly to the city’s welfare. They have their own schools and club houses and both political parties, Democrats and Republicans, have branch representatives in Hong Kong and a lively Chamber of Commerce, the largest outside the US. Well known American icons are established in Hong Kong. Coffee shop chain Starbucks has 164 outlets and hamburger giant McDonalds, with a local staff of 15,000, has 245 outlets.

They all seem to be doing well without any local government interference. So, contrary to what the State Department says, Hong Kong has always adhered to its policy of positive non-intervention. The only possible government intervention would come from the US itself. The advisory warns that any businesses operating in Hong Kong face conflicting jurisdictional requirements and liability in connection with (US-imposed) sanctions compliance efforts. “Failure to adhere to US sanctions can result in civil and criminal penalties under US law,” the statement read. So, yes. Americans be warned: Uncle Sam is watching you.

The US-imposed sanctions have had some impact on US-Hong Kong trade, which in 2023 was about 6 per cent down on the previous year. But it is still big business and worth about US$60.3 billion (HK$472.2 billion). In fact, the US is about the sixth largest source of external investment in Hong Kong.

The wise men and women in business know the situation in Hong Kong better than the State Department and apparently the US Consulate General (USCG), which feeds its masters with whatever information they want to hear. The USCG must know the real Hong Kong situation but buries its head in the sand to avoid making recommendations against US policy.

US enterprises are firmly entrenched in Hong Kong by establishing 214 regional headquarters, 419 regional offices and 640 local offices with parent companies located in the US. Further, Hong Kong is recognised as the financial hub of Asia and hosts 151 licensed banks, of which 10 are from the US.

Hong Kong welcomes overseas investment and offers an environment in which there is a free flow of capital and a return on investment without exchange controls.

With such high activity by American enterprises in Hong Kong, the business advisory issued by the State Department mere scaremongering to scare off potential investors. It means little and is not worth the paper it’s written on.