Donald Trump not considering placing sanctions on Chinese President over Hong Kong

US President Donald Trump said on June 3 that he was not considering putting sanctions on his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, over the controversial national security law related to Hong Kong. Trump had earlier said that Washington would impose sanctions on individuals responsible for “smothering” Hong Kong’s freedom which triggered speculations around sanctions on Chinese President.

The US President appeared on Newsmax TV for an interview where he was asked whether he was considering to impose sanctions on Xi to which Trump said he hasn’t thought of that. Trump added that though he hasn’t spoken to the Chinese President recently, his relations with Xi was “very good”.

The United States has raised concern over the new legislation proposed by China’s National People’s Congress (NPC), which critics say is aimed at undermining the higher degree of autonomy guaranteed under the Sino-British joint declaration. Trump has ordered the administration to start the procedure for the removal of special treatment of Hong Kong in trade relations.

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Warning of countermeasures

China has threatened to take necessary countermeasures if the United States takes action in response to the new legislation related to Hong Kong. During the daily press briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that China has also lodged representations to the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia after the four countries issued a joint statement on May 28 criticising the security bill.

The Chinese embassy in the United States had said in a statement that “internal and external hostile forces” are trying to use Hong Kong to split the country, subverting the government, carry out terrorist acts and interfere in the affairs of the semi-autonomous region. It further stated that NPC’s decision on national security law targets “a very narrow category of acts” that seriously jeopardise the country’s security and has no impact on Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy and interests of foreign investors.

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(Image credit: AP)