The US on Wednesday renewed pressure against Hong Kong’s leader, accusing her of undermining autonomy from China, but stopped short of imposing sanctions on banks under a tough new law.
The US Department of State issued its first report mandated to the US Congress under the US Hong Kong Autonomy Act, a law passed by Congress aimed at making the tightening restrictions on the financial hub costly for Beijing.
The report “underscores our ongoing objection to Beijing’s actions that are intentionally designed to erode the freedoms of the people of Hong Kong and impose the CCP’s [Chinese Communist Party’s] oppressive policies,” the department said.
In line with the report, the US Department of the Treasury added 10 people to its blacklist of “Specially Designated Nationals” subject to sanctions, including Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥).
The move has limited practical effect as the US in August imposed sanctions under separate authorities against Lam and the nine others, restricting any US-based financial transactions with them.
The act goes further than previous US efforts by laying the groundwork for sanctions in the world’s largest economy against banks seen as abetting the clampdown in the territory.
The authors of the act, which enjoyed overwhelming support in Congress, called the report a missed opportunity.
“This report indicates that, unfortunately, the administration is moving too slowly in expanding the number of individuals and entities held accountable under the act,” said US Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat who spearheaded the law with US Senator Pat Toomey, a Republican.
“I urge them to take additional measures and hope to see them reflected in the next report we receive,” Van Hollen said in a statement.
The release of the report had been closely watched in Hong Kong for signs that the US could tighten the screws on major banks.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has openly criticized banking giant HSBC Holdings PLC, accusing it of doing business with sanctioned individuals while “shutting accounts for those seeking freedom.”
The US pressure comes after China in June imposed a sweeping new security law on the territory, which was promised a separate system when Britain handed it back to Beijing in 1997.
Lam has denounced the US sanctions, but in August acknowledged that they have caused her “a little bit of inconvenience” by hindering her use of credit cards.
Other officials targeted by the sanctions include Hong Kong Liaison Office Director Luo Huining (駱惠寧) and Hong Kong Police Commissioner Chris Tang (鄧炳強).
Asked about a US warning to banks over the crackdown in Hong Kong, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would take countermeasures if the US insists on going down the wrong path.
The US should correct its mistake and stop interfering, ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) said yesterday at a news briefing in Beijing.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day