#US to stop exporting defense equipment to Hong Kong over China law

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
Nicholas Kamm/Pool via Reuters

The US will cease exporting US-origin defense equipment to Hong Kong as mainland China tightens its grip on the city, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced.

Citing Beijing’s “decision to eviscerate Hong Kong’s freedoms,” Pompeo said Monday that the US was being forced “to re-evaluate its policies toward the territory.”

The nation’s top diplomat went on to say that the US would “take steps toward imposing the same restrictions on U.S. defense and dual-use technologies to Hong Kong as it does for China.”

Pompeo defended the moves as necessary “to protect U.S. national security,” adding that the US “can no longer distinguish between the export of controlled items to Hong Kong or to mainland China.

“We cannot risk these items falling into the hands of the People’s Liberation Army, whose primary purpose is to uphold the dictatorship of the CCP by any means necessary,” his statement continued.

The decision came on the same day that the Communist nation approved a sweeping and contentious national security law that will allow authorities to crack down on subversive and secessionist activity in Hong Kong.

The law has been slammed by many as the Chinese Communist Party’s boldest effort to date to crackdown on the territory, which has maintained a semi-autonomous system separate from that of mainland China.

Last year, pro-democracy protests took over the city of Hong Kong for nearly a year and left the former British colony in a tense power struggle with the CCP.

This latest piece of legislation passed amid warnings and criticism both in Hong Kong and internationally that it would be used to curb opposition voices in the Asian financial hub.

In an effort to voice their opposition to the bill, the State Department announced Friday that it would be placing visa restrictions on CCP officials involved in efforts to restrict Hong Kong’s autonomy, something it was guaranteed when returned to China in 1997.

“President @realDonaldTrump promised to punish the CCP officials responsible for eviscerating Hong Kong’s freedoms. Today, we are taking action to do just that– we’ve announced visa restrictions on CCP officials responsible for undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy and human rights,” Pompeo tweeted at the time.

China offered a tit-for-tat response, imposing their own visa ban on Americans who interfered with matters relating to Hong Kong.

“As a response to the US’s wrongful decision to impose visa bans on Chinese officials, China decides to impose visa bans on Americans who behave badly in Hong Kong affairs,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters Monday.

Pompeo responded to this latest action by the CCP on Twitter, calling the Communist government out for “refusal to accept responsibility for breaking its commitment to the people of Hong Kong.”

“The Chinese Communist Party’s threats to restrict visas for U.S. citizens is the latest example of Beijing’s refusal to accept responsibility for breaking its commitment to the people of Hong Kong. We will not be deterred from taking action to respond,” the Secretary of State posted.

The war of words unfolds as relations between the two countries have continued to deteriorate over the coronavirus pandemic.

Beijing has been engaged for months in a global smear campaign against President Trump, the secretary of state and any other international figures who criticize the Communist regime’s handling of the novel virus.

With Post Wires