The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today expressed strong opposition to the Hong Kong Human Rights & Democracy Act and another act on Hong Kong becoming United States law.

In a statement, the Hong Kong SAR Government said it deeply regretted that the US has disregarded the genuine concerns it repeatedly raised about the acts.

It asserted that the two acts clearly intervene in Hong Kong's internal affairs, adding that they are unnecessary and unwarranted, and would harm relations and common interests between Hong Kong and the US.

The statement explained that both acts are unreasonable.

Although human rights and democracy are mentioned in the title of one act, some of its provisions are actually about export control and enforcement of sanctions imposed by the United Nations in Hong Kong, which are totally unrelated to human rights and democracy in Hong Kong. 

The two acts will also send an erroneous signal to protesters, which is not conducive to alleviating the situation in Hong Kong, it added.

The statement pointed out that the US has enormous economic interests in Hong Kong, including earning from Hong Kong the largest bilateral trade surplus amongst its global trading partners for the past decade, with last year’s surplus standing at over US$33 billion.

Any unilateral change of US economic and trade policy towards Hong Kong would create a negative impact on shared relations as well as the US' own interests.

Furthermore, Hong Kong and the US have all along had close co-operation on export control and law enforcement.

The SAR Government expressed hope that the US would adopt a pragmatic attitude.

In the interest of mutually beneficial relations, it urged the US Government to maintain its economic and trade policy and principled positions towards Hong Kong as well as continue to respect the city's status as a separate customs territory.

It reiterated that foreign governments and legislatures should not interfere in any form in the city’s internal affairs.