WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday the United States would continue to hold Hong Kong authorities accountable for the erosion of rule of law in the territory.
State Department spokesman Ned Price told a regular news briefing risks to the rule of law that were formerly limited to mainland China are now increasingly a concern for Hong Kong.
“We know that a healthy business community relies on the rule of law, which the national security law that applies to Hong Kong continues to undermine,” he said.
Price was responding to a question about a strengthened State Department warning to businesses issued on Tuesday about growing risks of having supply chain and investment links to China’s Xinjiang region. It cited alleged forced labor and human rights abuses there.
Price was asked if a similar warning might be issued over Hong Kong. A source told Reuters earlier the Biden administration could announce a similar business advisory on Hong Kong as soon as Friday, based on deteriorating conditions there.
The Treasury Department, meanwhile, declined to comment on a Financial Times report that Washington would impose more sanctions this week in response to China’s crack-downs in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
Price said the United States would continue to impose “costs and sanctions” on Chinese officials responsible for human rights abuses, including forced labor, but made no specific mention of any new measures.
“When it comes to Hong Kong, we don’t have anything to announce at this time, regarding future policy moves,” Price said, while adding: “We will continue to call international attention to and hold PRC and Hong Kong authorities accountable for the erosion of the rule of law in Hong Kong.”
The PRC is the acronym for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis, Daphne Psaledakis, Humeyra Pamuk and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Dan Grebler)
