Hong Kong’s top security and justice officials are furious at President Donald Trump for promising to punish the city for Beijing’s crackdown on protesters.
Security minister John Lee and Justice minister Teresa Cheng didn’t hide their anger from reporters Saturday.
Lee vowed Hong Kong would not be bullied by Trump’s move to strip the city’s special status and would enforce the new security laws imposed by mainland China, Reuters reported Saturday.
“I don’t think they will succeed in using any means to threaten the (Hong Kong) government, because we believe what we are doing is right,” Lee said.
Cheng fumed that Trump’s actions were “completely false and wrong,” insisting the laws were both legal and necessary for the former British colony.
China’s parliament passed the laws last week in an effort to curb dissent. Protests have rocked Hong Kong since March 2019 when the Chinese Communist Party unveiled a plan to extradite criminal suspects to mainland China.
Trump has blasted Beijing for tampering with Hong Kong’s autonomy and laid out his decision to do away with Hong Kong’s privileges.
“We will take action to revoke Hong Kong’s preferential treatment as a separate customs and travel territory from the rest of China,” Trump said.
The president also promised to impose sanctions on those seen as responsible for “smothering – absolutely smothering – Hong Kong’s freedom.”
Trump gave no date for when Hong Kong’s special status would end.
Also, the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong described Saturday as “a sad day.”