Sanctions won’t help HK as Wong meets Congress, says Lam

Bloomberg

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said sanctions would only complicate the city’s problems as prominent local activist Joshua Wong gets set to address US lawmakers who are considering changes to special trade privileges for the financial hub.
“I uphold this principle of accountability, but at the moment it is all for us to see that Hong Kong is undergoing a very difficult situation,” Lam said at a regular media briefing before a meeting of the city’s Executive Council.
“And sanctions or punishment are not going to help lift Hong Kong out of this very difficult situation.”
“We need to work as a team, not only within a government but also with a community and a society at large to overcome the current difficulties,” she said.
The US Congressional-Executive Commission on China was expected to hold a hearing on Hong Kong on Tuesday in Washington featuring testimony by Wong.
Earlier this month, Carrie Lam pushed back against protester calls for the passage of US legislation that would require annual assessments of whether the city was sufficiently autonomous from Beijing to continue its special trading status, and allow sanctions on Chinese officials.
The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act is backed by some prominent American lawmakers, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying earlier this month that Congress would advance a bill supporting “democracy, human rights and the rule of law in the face of Beijing’s crackdown.”
Revoking Hong Kong’s special trading status could devastate the city’s economy.
Earlier this year, a US government report said the city’s autonomy was “sufficient — although diminished.”
Wong, a prominent student leader of the city’s 2014 Occupy movement, served jail time for his involvement in those pro-democracy protests.
Despite being rounded up with other well-known opposition voices late last month, neither he nor other activists have been seen as central figures in the recent unrest.
The protests started in June in opposition to controversial legislation allowing extraditions to mainland China and widened into a broader movement against Beijing’s increasing grip on the city.
They show no signs of stopping anytime soon, even after Lam scrapped the bill.