U.S. President Joe Biden said his administration will issue an advisory to warn American companies about the risks of doing business in Hong Kong as China tightens its hold on the semi-autonomous region. “The situation in Hong Kong is deteriorating. And the Chinese government is not keeping its commitment that it made how it would deal … with Hong Kong,” Biden said at a Thursday news conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“And so it is more of an advisory as to what may happen in … Hong Kong. It’s as simple as that and as complicated as that,” he added, according to a White House transcript of his remarks. Several news outlets reported that the advisory will be issued on Friday. The business advisory could come alongside U.S. sanctions on seven Chinese officials for cracking down on democracy in Hong Kong, reported Reuters, citing unnamed sources.
Hong Kong, a major business hub in Asia, has become a contentious issue in the U.S.-China relationship which has been shaky since a dispute over trade tariffs, competition on technology and the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic. The city is a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997. It is governed under a “one country, two systems” framework that promises a “high degree of autonomy” to Hong Kong.
