(Bloomberg) -- China criticized the US over a bill that could eventually lead to the closure of Hong Kong trade offices in America, escalating tensions over the financial hub’s status.
“We strongly deplore and firmly oppose the US’s egregious move of manipulating Hong Kong-related issues,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Wednesday at a regular press briefing in Beijing.
US lawmakers should “stop advancing that act to prevent further damage to the stability and growth of China-US relations,” Mao said, adding that her nation had filed a diplomatic complaint over the episode. The bill would need to be passed by the Senate and signed by the US president to become law.
On Tuesday, the House voted 413-3 to pass a bill that would require the US to regularly determine whether Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices in Washington, New York and San Francisco can still operate with diplomatic immunity.
The measure’s backers say the offices have turned into hostile propaganda arms of the Chinese government since Beijing tightened its grip on Hong Kong. They also say the offices help China follow and harass democracy advocates in the US.
In a separate move last week, the US said in an alert that businesses operating in Hong Kong could run afoul of Beijing-imposed national security legislation and also faced heightened legal and regulatory risks, including violating US sanctions.
The advisory said the extra danger was posed by the implementation in March of the Article 23 security law that the US has warned could further erode human rights protections in Hong Kong and be used to prosecute routine business activities.
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