Businesses operating in Hong Kong could fall afoul of national security legislation and face heightened legal and regulatory risks, including contravening US sanctions, an alert issued on Friday by the White House said.
The advisory said the additional danger was posed by China’s March implementation of the Article 23 security legislation in Hong Kong, which the US has warned could further erode human rights protections and be used to prosecute routine business activities.
“The vaguely defined nature of the law and previous government statements and actions raise questions about risks associated with routine activities,” it said of the new Article 23 law.
Photo: Reuters
US authorities are concerned that lobbying, market analysis relying on government data, publishing media analysis or commentary, or engaging with reporters, think tanks or nongovernmental organizations could be classified as threats to national security, the bulletin said.
“Businesses should be aware that the risks they face in the People’s Republic of China are now increasingly present in Hong Kong,” US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller wrote in a social media post.
More than 300 people have been arrested under an initial 2020 security law in Hong Kong, including a US citizen, the State Department said.
The advisory also said that Russia was increasingly using Hong Kong as a midway point to evade sanctions and export controls imposed because of its invasion of Ukraine, and that the territory also served as a hub for chemical and pharmaceutical companies helping to supply precursor chemicals for the production of fentanyl.
Moreover, Hong Kong is a primary pathway to circumvent export controls related to Chinese semiconductor manufacturing, the US said.
As a result, US firms should take special care to avoid doing business with individuals or entities that could be subject to sanctions, the bulletin said.
The advisory updated a warning the State Department first issued in 2021, shortly after Beijing imposed the National Security Law on Hong Kong, and was altered in part to account for changes passed by the territory’s Safeguarding National Security ordinance in March.
Hong Kong authorities have downplayed the significance of the provisions, saying they are similar to security laws in other countries.
Hong Kong Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan (陳國基) yesterday said the US advisory was an attempt to suppress China’s rise and that national security cases are treated fairly in court.
“The National Security Law has been enacted for a long time and we can all see that we have never groundlessly arrested any business people,” Chan told reporters.
The US advisory “involves an element of intimidation, to scare away business people hoping to invest in Hong Kong. I don’t think this ploy will succeed,” he said.
Additional reporting by AFP
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s (黎智英) fraud conviction and prison sentence were yesterday overturned by a Hong Kong court, in a surprise legal decision that comes soon after Lai was jailed for 20 years on a separate national security charge. Judges Jeremy Poon (潘兆初), Anthea Pang (彭寶琴) and Derek Pang (彭偉昌) said in the judgement that they allowed the appeal from Lai, and another defendant in the case, to proceed, as a lower court judge had “erred.” “The Court of Appeal gave them leave to appeal against their conviction, allowed their appeals, quashed the convictions and set aside the sentences,” the judges
RSS