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On Wednesday, the US Senate has unanimously passed a punitive sanctions bill against Chinese officials. Point to be noted the China government passed a national security law that experts say erodes Hong Kong’s autonomy. The sanctions bill was passed with unanimous approval in the House, now heads to Donald Trump’s desk. It would force the US President to possibly offend his self-described friend. The President of China Xi Jinping with whom he hopes to craft a second trade pact should he win re-election in the fall. The bill would impose sanctions on Chinese officials and any Hong Kong police units clashing with protesters by penalizing banks that do business with them.

The new bill would also require the US State Department to produce an annual report for US Congress on Chinese officials who have subverted Hong Kong and China’s one country, two systems governing structure. It also would provide special power to the US President in order to seize assets of those people and turn them away from US shores. Point to be noted that the US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a rare appearance at a House Armed Services Committee hearing this week urging members to vote for the sanctions and condemn the communist Chinese government’s latest action in Hong Kong. The sanctions are an urgently needed response to the cowardly Chinese government’s passage of its so-called National Security Law.

It also threatens the end of one country, two systems promised exactly 23 years ago. Pelosi also said in a statement, “All freedom-loving people must condemn this horrific law, which is purpose-built to dismantle democratic freedoms in Hong Kong”. The US Vice President Mike Pence echoed Pelosi’s concerns in an interview with CNBC and said the new law in Hong Kong is a betrayal of the international agreement that they signed in 1984 with the United Kingdom that grants Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy from the Chinese mainland government. The White House has signaled its aversion recently to further upsetting the US’s already fraught relationship with China ahead of the 2020 presidential election.