The US didn’t get any presents from Santa this Christmas; it was deemed “naughty”

Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government

Being nice is not in the American vocabulary. Suffering from an acute superiority complex, the US is trying, unsuccessfully, to conquer the world. In the middle east, it is war with weapons of mass destruction, in the east it is with words and political manoeuvring.

Take the latest 2024 Annual Report by the US Congressional-Executive Committee on China for example. The 36-page document is sprinkled with lies from start to finish. It champions the local dissidents who have absconded overseas to seek safe havens in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK.

To indicate the validity of the report one of the key “witnesses” was China hawk Marco Rubio, Trump’s candidate for Secretary of State, called out major American corporations for their “cowardly” efforts to lobby against his bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which would prevent U.S. firms from importing goods produced wholly or in part with slave labor. Rubio is by far the greatest hawk in the US and confirmation of his post as head of US foreign affairs does not bide well for us.

Not only is Rubio interfering in China and Hong Kong affairs, but also that of American businesses. Some 1400 members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, the largest Amcham outside the USA, are affected by Rubio’s rhetoric and Biden/Trump decisions. Due to the multitude of sanctions the US administration has passed on to Hong Kong companies and individuals, the US businesses are having a hard time to continue their trade and services in this Pearl of the Orient.

As an example of what the congressional session hears, Rubio told his peers that Hong Kong’s National Security Law severely limited judges’ freedom of action; the authorities were intent on quashing even peaceful dissent (police approved 382 processions and 15892 public meetings in 2023 – the second highest since 2014); the banning of the Glory to Hong Kong protest song; physical and sexual violence by prison guards against juvenile offenders; and the list of his imaginary breaches of the Basic Law goes on and on.

The 70,000Americans living in Hong Kong must shudder when hearing this false narrative from the highest authorities in the US. In fact, it was enough to force some 15,000 Americans to leave Hong Kong from the start of the riots in 2018. For them, enough is enough and the blame rests squarely on the shoulders of the US administration and the menagerie of China-hating politicians seeking glory through soundbites decrying China and Hong Kong.

Hong Kong authorities must be terribly frustrated by repeatedly debunking these false claims designed to divide the HKSAR from the mainland. But they must continue to refute these deliberate lies to maintain the integrity of Hong Kong and China.

A Hong Kong Government spokesman described the report as “a smack of despicable political manipulation with ill intentions.”

On safeguarding national security, the report said “the arbitrary application of national security laws has led to the imprisonment of dissidents and activists, further eroding fundamental freedoms in the city. Ongoing criminal prosecution on charges involving national security and sedition against individuals who peacefully exercised their rights included news media executives Jimmy Lai and Chung Pui-kuen, human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung, and student activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung. Hong Kong police issued warrants of arrest on at least 13 exiled activists and offered rewards for information leading to their arrest. These individuals advocated for democratic reform and for imposing financial sanctions on Hong Kong and People’s Republic of China (PRC) officials who perpetrated human rights violations.”

Those arrested in Hong Kong for illegal activities are no better than those arrested and charged in the January 9, 2021, storming of Capitol Hill in Washington DC. In 2019-20 Hong Kong experienced fully blown riots; they were not peaceful demonstrations. Freedoms are not absolute in Hong Kong or Washington or anywhere else and breaches of the peace are dealt with the full force of the law. This is universal.

The Hong Kong government spokesman retorted: “The HKSAR Government strongly opposes the absurd and untrue content regarding legislation safeguarding national security. In accordance with international law and international practice based on the Charter of the United Nations, safeguarding national security is an inherent right of all sovereign states. Many common law jurisdictions, including the US, UK, Australia and Canada have enacted multiple pieces of legislation and implemented measures to safeguard national security.”

The US does not understand the meaning of peace. It wages war throughout the world and if it cannot find a war, it will make one. President-elect Donald Trump comes across as an opponent of war and, he says, that with the help of China he will restore peace in the middle east. But if the present trend of hostility towards the east continues, he will have little chance of getting President Xi Jinping on side.

Mark Pinkstone

** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **

Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government

US President Donald Trump has started an international biased war on trade; biased in a way that places like Hong Kong are being penalised even though they have a deficit trade balance with the US.

The US goods trade surplus with Hong Kong was US$21.9 billion in 2024, a 7.6 per cent increase over 2023.

Yet, Hong Kong has long been considered a separate customs territory from the mainland of China as stipulated in the Basic Law and by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) before and after the Handover in 1997. It also enjoyed preferential treatment from the US in terms of trade and economy under US law since 1992. But Trump put an end to that with an executive order in his first term of office in 2019 when he sided with the rioters in Hong Kong.

Total goods traded between the US and Hong Kong last year totalled US$33.8 billion. US exports to Hong Kong were US$27.9 billion while Hong Kong exports to the US totalled only $6 billion, thus the near US$22 billion surplus in favour of the US.

By wrongfully lumping Hong Kong’s trade figures with that of the mainland, Hong Kong is being penalised by the US for something it hasn’t done.

Trade lecturer at City University of Hong Kong, Julien Chaisse, has been quoted in the local press as saying “Hong Kong is in a tough spot. The US no longer treats Hong Kong as a separate from the mainland, which strips away any trade advantages we once had.”

Hong Kong has, naturally, lodged a complaint against the US with the WTO. A spokesman for the Special Administration Region (SAR) Government of Hong Kong, said “The US measures are grossly inconsistent of the relevant WTO rules and ignore our status as a separate customs territory as stipulated in Article 116 of the Basic Law and recognized by the WTO.”

The HKSAR Government will formally launch procedures in accordance with the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism against the US’ unreasonable measures to defend our legitimate rights.

However, although the WTO is an independent body it is currently being controlled by the US.

Traditionally the Appellate Court of the WTO adjudicates disputes between member states, but it is currently composed of only one judge. In normal circumstances, the court has seven judges, but a minimum of three is required for a quorum. The appellate body fell to one judge on December 10 last year when member states failed to make new appointments. That in turn has halted all appeal judgements on trade matters until a new solution is reached. Also, the US has  threatened to block the  body’s budget.  So, even though both China and Hong Kong, plus many other member states, have lodged complaints against the US for its tariffs war, very little can be done until more judges are appointed. And that could take ages as such appointments will continue to be blocked by the US.

It is well recognized that there are no winners in trade wars, and it is the little man, the man in the street who suffers as the tariffs are passed down the line to the consumer, thus causing inflation to rise. But Trump thinks nought for the little man, only himself.

The Chinese ambassador to the US, Xie Feng, also believes there are no winners in trade wars nor in wars over science, technology or industry. Differences, he said between the two nations should be the driving force for exchanges and mutual learning rather than “the excuse for rejection and confrontation and that successes of each were opportunities for the other.”

On the sidelines of last week’s National Peoples’ Congress in Beijing, China’s commerce minister Wang Wentao, hit back at Trump saying that coercion and threats would not work on China, nor would they scare China. “China’s determination to defend its own interests is unswerving. There are no winners in a trade war.

“If the American side goes further down this wrong path, we will fight to the end,” he warned.

China is the main trading partner in 140 countries and has free trade agreements (FTAs) with 30. And it is ready to sign even more FTAs to minimize the impact of restrictions imposed by the US.

So, China as perhaps the world’s largest trading partner and a key cog in the supply chain mechanism, the US bullying tactics would have little impact on China’s Gross Domestic Product by as little as 1 per cent, even if the tariffs went as high as 60 per cent.