The trade dispute between Washington and China will have an impact on China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), which could prompt the region's authorities to engage in direct talks with the United States
BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st November, 2018) The trade dispute between Washington and China will have an impact on China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), which could prompt the region's authorities to engage in direct talks with the United States, Chief Secretary for Hong Kong Administration Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said on Thursday.
"Hong Kong will be impacted directly and indirectly and will not be able to stay immune ... There are no winners in trade wars and we still hope all sides will resolve trade disputes through bilateral meetings and WTO mechanisms. We won't rule out making requests for direct negotiations with the United States," Cheung was quoted as saying by The Standard (HK) newspaper.
The chief secretary also lashed out at Washington for a number of protectionist measures, which turned out to be "a great step backward" for global free trade practices.
According to Cheung, the trade war between Beijing and Washington impacted Hong Kong despite the 1992 United States-Hong Kong Policy Act, under which Washington considers Hong Kong a separate customs territory, meaning that the US import tariffs on Chinese goods do not cover the autonomous region.
"World Trade Organization members should keep their promises and stay within the framework of the WTO, but the trade war that the United States has initiated has added a large variable to international trade," the chief secretary added.
In June, US-China trade relations deteriorated after Trump announced that he would impose 25-percent tariffs on $50 billion worth of imported Chinese goods and Beijing responded in kind. In September, Washington announced 10-percent import duties on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, with the tariffs set to surge to 25 percent on January 1, 2019.
In late September, media reported that WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo had promised to act as a mediator in the US-China trade talks.
The Chinese side has repeatedly stressed that it wanted to defend the principle of multilateralism in international trade and objected to unilateral actions and protectionism.
