This archive report was first published on 28 November 2019.
US President Donald Trump signed a law supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong on November 27, 2019, amid a long-running trade war with China.
The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which won rare bipartisan support in both houses of Congress, requires the US president to annually review Hong Kong's favourable trade status and threatens to revoke it if the semi-autonomous territory's freedoms are quashed.
China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, condemned the bill as "naked interference in China's internal affairs" just a week ago, and the foreign ministry summoned the US ambassador to Beijing to warn that the United States would "bear all the consequences" if the bill went through.
Trump's decision to sign the bill comes as Washington and Beijing negotiate a partial trade deal, known as "phase one," with Washington badly wanting even a partial deal to show to voters as the re-election campaign gets underway.
Republican senators Marco Rubio and Jim Risch, together with Democratic senators Ben Cardin and Bob Menendez, welcomed Trump's decision, saying the US now has new tools to deter further influence and interference from Beijing into Hong Kong's internal affairs.
