Why HKETO Certification Act will hurt Washington's own interests

On Feb 17, 2023, a bill was introduced in the United States Congress requiring the President to periodically certify whether to allow the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices to continue operating in the US. A negative certification would result in the HKETOs ceasing operation within 180 days.

The claim was that the 2020 National Security Law for Hong Kong had undermined the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's human rights and "one country, two systems".

With the US presidential election drawing near, the Congress resumed after summer recess on Sept 9 with a "China Week" aimed at passage of a raft of 28 anti-China legislations. As part of this China-bashing exercise, the HKETO Certification Act was passed on Sept 10.

Before my retirement in 2004, I was director-general of Hong Kong's London ETO, covering the United Kingdom and a dozen other countries in Eastern Europe, as well as Switzerland, Norway and Russia. In the mid-1980s, I was a commercial counselor in the Brussels ETO.

A lot of HKETO's work is devoted to helping foreign businesses and governments understand what is happening in Hong Kong in the context of its relationship with the Chinese mainland. These offices act as a helpful bridge between Hong Kong and the host countries.

So it irks me that the good work of HKETOs has become a sacrificial lamb at the altar of China-bashing.

To appreciate how the NSL came about, certain sociopolitical dynamics need to be understood.

In October 2021, after a 38-year career in Hong Kong, I was invited to pen Chapter 7 "One Country Two Systems Revisited — A Personal Real-Life Perspective" for a book, The Rise of China: Fresh Insights and Observations, published by the UK-based Paddy Ashdown Forum.

I outlined how, when Hong Kong first returned to the motherland in 1997, Beijing bent backward to keep Hong Kong at arm's length. Even what used to be regular football matches between the police forces across the border had to be referred to Beijing for prior approval. As years went by, this "river-water-not-to-mix-with-well-water" mentality proved no longer realistic as goods, trade, investments, peoples, funds and ideas rapidly moved both ways.

I explained how a whole generation of Hong Kong's youths, brought up in a colonial education system biased toward job-related subjects, gradually lost their sense of nationhood. The inevitable socioeconomic integration across the border, including dramatic change in streets of shops switching to gold and jewelry outlets catering to high-spending mainland tourists brought about a sense of "erosion "of what was perceived to be Hong Kong's own "identity".

Later, an ill-fated extradition legislation ignited waves of increasingly violent, petrol-bomb-throwing protesters holding Hong Kong's law and order to ransom, demanding electoral changes contrary to specific provisions in the Basic Law, a constitutional document on Hong Kong's governance. Egged on by foreign powers, some riotous protests blatantly called for "Hong Kong independence", openly challenging Beijing's sovereignty over the city, necessitating the NSL's subsequent enactment.

On Sept 11, the HKSAR government issued a robust rebuke in an official statement, condemning the US Congress for slandering the NSL and smearing Hong Kong's human rights situation.

It points out that the HKETO Certification Act is a self-deception with double standard, considering that the US has the most stringent national security legislation on the planet. The Act disregards the constitutional obligation and inherent rights of the HKSAR to safeguard national security, smears the fact that human rights and the rule of law are properly protected in accordance with the law by the HKSAR government, and grossly interferes in Hong Kong's affairs.

The statement highlights the legitimate functions of the three HKETOs in Washington, New York and San Francisco. They operate in accordance with local legislation and maintain close liaison with interlocutors in the government, business, think tanks and various sectors, enriching bilateral ties in different areas such as trade, investment, as well as arts and culture. Their smooth operation strengthens bilateral cooperation in various domains that are mutually beneficial to both places, including "win-win" benefits to some 1,200 US businesses in Hong Kong as well as a trade surplus of some $271.5 billion in US' favor over the past decade.

The Department of Justice of the HKSAR, by virtue of Article 63 of the Basic Law, controls criminal prosecutions free from any interference. Independent prosecutorial decisions for each case are made in a rigorous and objective manner, strictly based on evidence and applicable laws in accordance with the Prosecution Code. Prosecutions would be instituted by the DoJ only if there is sufficient admissible evidence to support a reasonable prospect of conviction, and if it is in the public interest to do so.

As demonstrated in recent NSL trials in Hong Kong, the city's independent judiciary including eminent foreign judges in its Court of Final Appeal, has been rigorously vigilant in ensuring open and proper carriage of justice based on verified facts and established common law principles.

According to a survey conducted by a major foreign chamber of commerce early this year, almost 80 percent of its members interviewed expressed confidence in Hong Kong's rule of law. Almost 70 percent said that their operations had not been affected by the NSL.

Business communities from different countries have recognized the city's advantages and have been enthusiastic about doing business here, as is evident by their continuous significant direct investments made in Hong Kong after the implementation of the NSL.

Invest Hong Kong, the government's trade and investment organization, has completed 358 projects in the first seven months of this year, representing a 40 percent increase year-on-year. Among them, 32 completed projects were from the US, which was ranked at the third place.

In addition, according to the Report on Annual Survey of Companies in Hong Kong with Parent Companies Located outside Hong Kong, the number of companies stationed in Hong Kong exceeded 9,000 again in 2023. The US was ranked 3rd, with 1,273 companies.

All in all, the cornerstone of Hong Kong's "one country, two systems" remains intact.

As the three HKETOs are beneficial to the US' best interests, the HKETO Certification Act appears part and parcel of an indulgent national sport of China-bashing in an election year. This happens with a bipartisan consensus that China has become the US' "existential threat".

Regardless, the US' Sinophobia, however unjustified, persists, driven by a black-or-white, win-or-lose Manichean mindset of competition, resulting in indiscriminate China-bashing, including the uncalled-for HKETO Certification Act.

There is no evidence that the NSL has undermined "one country, two systems". HKETOs are clearly beneficial to US interests. The HKETO Certification Act doesn't help the US' competitiveness. Passing the Act makes no sense. If anything, it would merely smack of cutting one's nose to spite one's face.

The author is an international independent China strategist, and was previously the director-general of social welfare and Hong Kong's official chief representative for the UK, Eastern Europe, Russia, Norway and Switzerland.