Hong Kong’s Carrie Lam slams ‘hegemonic’ US bill aimed at closing trade offices

Speaking at seminar held by Chinese University’s Shenzhen campus, former leader also urges public administrators to ramp up capabilities

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Former leader Carrie Lam speaks at a seminar at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Shenzhen campus. Photo: Handout

Published: 2:12pm, 13 Sep 2024Updated: 6:14pm, 13 Sep 2024

A former Hong Kong leader has slammed the US for “flexing its hegemonic muscle” with a bill that could close the city’s trade offices in the country, while calling on all public administrators to ramp up governance capabilities to manage local challenges.

Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, who served as chief executive from 2017 to 2022, said on Friday that the rise of protectionism and worsening US-China relations had brought uncertainty in terms of regional economic development.

She cited the congressional bill targeting Hong Kong’s trade outposts in New York, Washington and San Francisco as the latest example while speaking at a seminar held by the new public policy school at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Shenzhen campus.

“The US once again flexed its hegemonic muscle a few days ago when the House of Representatives [advanced legislation] that could affect our three offices in the US and deprive them of their special privileges,” she said.

“These behaviours will harm others without benefiting themselves. I hope the US government and politicians realise the measures are not good for the American business community or the exchanges between the two places.”

The bipartisan Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act, which is expected to clear the United States Senate, requires the US secretary of state to review the city’s three trade missions and strip them of privileges if they are found to operate without a “high degree of autonomy” from the People’s Republic of China.