The Republican-led US House of Representatives voted Tuesday to advance a bill that could close Hong Kong’s diplomatic offices in the US, a crucial step on its path to becoming law.
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The bipartisan Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) Certification Act would require the US secretary of state to review the city’s three American trade missions – in New York, San Francisco and Washington – and strip them of privileges if they are found not to operate with a “high degree of autonomy” from the People’s Republic of China.
The bill, sponsored by New Jersey Representative Chris Smith, Republican of New Jersey, passed 413-3.
There are 14 HKETOs outside mainland China. The offices, which primarily carry out trade promotion and cultural diplomacy responsibilities, are not diplomatic missions because Hong Kong is not a sovereign state. But they do have some of the privileges and immunities of diplomatic missions granted in many countries.