China and the United States are being confronted in an unprecedented trade war and political opposition, as Washington has strongly expressed its support to the Hong Kong demonstrators.
According to a Chinese state media, “West is paying the price for supporting Hong Kong riots”. Hong Kong protesters have been demonstrating for about nine months, while Beijing has been trying to get the territory back, while the island became independent in 1997.
As a response to this diplomatic support, China stated that it would try to pass a law to question Hong Kong’s autonomy from mainland China. However, China expressed on Tuesday that the relations with the United States have improved.
An anti-US law project
Beijing and Washington are going back and forth on the trade war and experts are doubtful on whether it will end soon.
According to the South China Morning Post, “Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the ‘different treatment’ those events received compared with the Hong Kong demonstrations underscored how the West uses ‘democracy and human rights as excuses to interfere in Hong Kong’.
#China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that the response by Western countries to the protests showed "democracy and human rights are only a pretentious cover for Western interference in Hong Kong affairs."#HongKong #Spain #Catalonia pic.twitter.com/l782FnQJoV
— F.H. Ginel (@fhginel) October 22, 2019
However, the spokeswoman also added that Beijing would not interfere in foreign policy. As a counter-example, she also added that the United States were using the “excuse of democracy and human rights” to interfere with Hong Kong.
China makes progress
On Tuesday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng confirmed that he spoke with a representative of the United States in Beijing. He added that they both “achieved some progress in their trade talks and any problem could be resolved as long as both sides respected each other”, reports Reuters.
🇨🇳 🇺🇸 #China vice foreign minister says progress made in trade talks with U.S. – Reutershttps://t.co/gOIE7cnWxZ
— Christophe Barraud🛢 (@C_Barraud) October 22, 2019
The Foreign Minister added that: “the world wants China and the United States to end their trade war”. This announcement happened while the two powers are having tense discussions about a tariff hike for this month.
“As long as we respect each other and seek equal cooperation, there are no disagreements that cannot be resolved between China and the United States,” Le added.
Read on Alvexo: “China-US: A New Low With Potential Costs”
Will Carrie Lam quit?
As a matter of fact, experts are wondering if Carrie Lam, the current chief executive of Hong Kong, will resign. While it was not likely before, public characters have expressed their wish.
“Both her hands are soaked with blood. We hope Carrie Lam withdraws and quits. She has no governance ability. She is not suitable to be chief executive.”, shared Legislative Councillor Tanya Chan to CNN.
In the past few months, most opposition lawmakers have expressed several times their calls for Lam to resign.