South China Morning Post
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A Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco. These offices have some of the privileges and immunities of diplomatic missions granted in many countries. Photo: Handout
Opinion
Bernard Chan
Bernard Chan

Why US must rethink bill to remove Hong Kong’s trade office privileges

  • As the balloon saga showed, media narratives can paint an untrue picture, helping hardline Republicans push Joe Biden to retaliate against China
  • The same mistake must not be allowed to happen with the Senate set to debate a bill that could close down Hong Kong’s trade offices in the US
Bernard Chan
Bernard Chan
Why you can trust SCMP

Despite US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s message of congratulations to the people of China as the country celebrated its national day, many in the business community fear that this rhetoric falls short of America’s real intention to stifle China’s economic progress on the world stage.

There is increasing concern about US posturing and its potential impact on Hong Kong. The passing of a draft bill by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in July, titled the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) Certification Act, paved the way for the proposed act to be submitted to the Senate and passed into law.
If passed, it would empower the president of the United States to remove the privileges, exemptions and immunities given to our three economic trade offices in New York, Washington and San Francisco, and close them all, if it believed Beijing had eroded a high degree of Hong Kong’s autonomy.
The bill was introduced to Senate in mid-February by Marco Rubio and Jeff Merkley, mere weeks after a significant incident that caused a severe rift and an escalation of tensions between the US and China – the incursion of a high-altitude balloon in US airspace that was quickly dubbed the “Chinese spy balloon” in mainstream media.
The event elicited a knee-jerk response from the US State Department and the cancellation of Blinken’s visit to Beijing to meet President Xi Jinping.
Days after the balloon first flew over Alaska, President Joe Biden ordered a military intervention in the form of an F-22 fighter jet, which shot down the harmless balloon six miles off the coast of South Carolina. The US intelligence agencies were tasked with analysing the balloon parts retrieved and eventually found nothing untoward.
US Navy sailors with the remnants of the Chinese balloon on February 10. Photo: US Navy via AP

The unfortunate incident engendered extensive media coverage at the time, generating a frenzy of negative and unsavoury comments about China across political circles and among ordinary citizens, particularly in the US. Anger, outrage and hostility were the order of the day, further fuelling anti-Chinese and anti-Asian sentiment, which unfortunately persists in some sectors of American society.

Two weeks ago, General Mark Milley, who has since retired as head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that investigations into the incursion of the high-altitude balloon over North America showed it was not a surveillance balloon, nor was it gathering and sending sensitive information back to the Chinese military.

The giant balloon, which was reportedly 200 feet tall and travelling at an altitude of 60,000 feet, was a meteorological research craft. General Milley also submitted the theory that severe winds at that altitude probably blew the balloon off course as its engines were not powerful enough to deal with winds of that magnitude.

It is remarkable that the incident turned into an issue of such magnitude and instantly became a mainstay of international news.

02:43

‘A clear overreaction’: Beijing rebukes Washington for shooting down Chinese balloon

‘A clear overreaction’: Beijing rebukes Washington for shooting down Chinese balloon

For some reason, neither General Milley’s acknowledgement of this gross error of judgment nor what, as it turns out, was misreporting by the media received anywhere near the same levels of coverage as the original incident.

It seems the media had little appetite to either put the record straight, right the unjust and unfavourable commentary or quell the anger against China. More coverage of the facts of the case is also warranted in Hong Kong and elsewhere in the region.

Unfortunately, the tag of “Chinese spy balloon” will continue to dictate public perception, and few people are likely to ever understand the real story or the whole truth.

Hong Kong is under unfair attack from Europe and the US

But hopefully, this incident will no longer be used by hardline Republicans to pressure President Biden into any form of retaliatory act against China, which could damage Hong Kong-US relations and our city’s special trading status.

We hope that US officials will act calmly and in a dignified and pragmatic manner, particularly when geopolitical tensions between the world’s two leading powers are running exceptionally high. One unintentional mistake or misinterpretation of a situation can result in grave consequences, detrimental for everyone.

It is also a reminder for us all to understand the power of the media and its ability to stir up hostility with no reasonable basis, on just conjecture. Alas, the more sensational the story, the greater the media coverage.

Bernard Chan is a Hong Kong businessman and former Executive Council convenor

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