China bars U.S. military ships, aircraft from Hong Kong, sanctions U.S.-based NGOs

[webfact]

China bars U.S. military ships, aircraft from Hong Kong, sanctions U.S.-based NGOs

 

Chinese and U.S. flags flutter near The Bund, before U.S. trade delegation meet their Chinese counterparts for talks in Shanghai, China July 30, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song/Files

 

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Monday banned U.S. military ships and aircraft from visiting Hong Kong and slapped sanctions on several U.S. non-government organisations for allegedly encouraging anti-government protesters in the city to commit violent acts.

 

The measures were a response to U.S. legislation passed last week supporting the protests which have rocked the Asian financial hub for six months. It said it had suspended taking requests for U.S. military visits indefinitely, and warned of further action to come.

 

"We urge the U.S. to correct the mistakes and stop interfering in our internal affairs. China will take further steps if necessary to uphold Hong Kong's stability and prosperity and China's sovereignty," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a news briefing in Beijing.

 

China last week promised it would issue "firm counter measures" after U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which supports anti-government protesters in Hong Kong and threatens China with sanctions for human rights abuses.

 

There are fears that the dispute over Hong Kong could impact efforts by Beijing and Washington to reach a preliminary deal to de-escalate a prolonged trade war between the world's two largest economies.

 

In more normal times, several U.S. naval ships visit Hong Kong annually, a rest-and-recreation tradition that dates back to the pre-1997 colonial era and one that Beijing allowed to continue after the handover from British to Chinese rule.

 

Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dave Eastburn said port visits to Hong Kong and elsewhere around the world served as a useful programme to "provide liberty for our sailors and expand people-to-people ties with our hosts".

 

"With regard to the ongoing protests, we condemn the unjustified use of force and urge all sides to refrain from violence and engage in constructive dialogue," he said in a statement.

 

A U.S. defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said China's move would not have an impact on U.S. military operations.

 

Visits have at times been refused amid broader tensions and two U.S. ships were denied access in August.

 

The USS Blue Ridge, the command ship of the Japan-based Seventh Fleet, stopped in Hong Kong in April – the last ship to visit before mass protests broke out in June.

 

Foreign NGOs are already heavily restricted in China, and have previously received sharp rebukes for reporting on rights issues in the country, including the mass detention of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.

 

The U.S.-headquartered NGOs targeted by Beijing include the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House.

 

"They shoulder some responsibility for the chaos in Hong Kong and they should be sanctioned and pay the price," Hua said.

 

(Reporting by Cate Cadell and Beijing Monitoring Desk. Additional reporting by Idrees Ali and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Stephen Coates)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-12-03

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[mercman24]

nice and peaceful place a few years ago. ?? thats what happens when a communist country tries to force their values on what basically has been a country with western leanings

[Assurancetourix]

You will think what you want, but I notice that the English governments have always put the mess everywhere they have been.
What an idea to retrocede Hong Kong to a communist country ! 

[Tug]

Looks to me that a visit of the combined navy’s of the free world should pay Hong Kong a visit and do a bit ofshowing the flag there and other contested areas!

[Dan747]

Twenty years ago China needed HK as a gateway to the world. Now Shanghai offers China everything HK offered two decades ago. Until China deviates from it's path of authoritarianism, HK will continue to resist, though the slow assimilation from Mainland may temper that.

What HK was supposed to offer, twenty years ago, was a roadmap for re-integration of Taiwan. Clearly that is now a dead issue. Taiwanese need only look at HK to see what freedoms China has to offer.

[Banana7]

The only thing China and boys in Beijing know how to do is to destroy the prosperity of Hong Kong, and have its police kill people in the streets who want to have Beijing's agreement with the UK upheld.

[FritsSikkink]

1 hour ago, Tug said:

Looks to me that a visit of the combined navy’s of the free world should pay Hong Kong a visit and do a bit ofshowing the flag there and other contested areas!

What is the free world?

[rabas]

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

What is the free world?

The one you're probably in that lets you freely express your ideas without fear.

 

[car720]

2 hours ago, Banana7 said:

The only thing China and boys in Beijing know how to do is to destroy the prosperity of Hong Kong, and have its police kill people in the streets who want to have Beijing's agreement with the UK upheld.

just as many girls as boys.  China actually has greater equal rights than the west when it comes to the genders.

[car720]

1 hour ago, rabas said:

The one you're probably in that lets you freely express your ideas without fear.

 

Seriously?  I cannot remember the last time that I expressed anything without fear. #metoo anyone?

[Pedrogaz]

The US should keep their nose out of China's business. What I can never understand is why countries allow US NGOs to come to their peaceful countries and stir up trouble, financing and organizing riots and terrorism. World wake up, the US is not a force for good, but rather a force for evil and war.

[Pedrogaz]

5 hours ago, Banana7 said:

The only thing China and boys in Beijing know how to do is to destroy the prosperity of Hong Kong, and have its police kill people in the streets who want to have Beijing's agreement with the UK upheld.

They do not want the agreement with the UK upheld. It is being upheld.....they do not want the agreement at all. They do not want to lose their autonomy in 2047 and be absorbed into China (which is what the agreement calls for). You seem to have some misguided idea that Hong Kong was a democracy under the British.....it wasn't it was a colony, with a UK appointed governor. And there is no democracy planned under the agreement.

[wwest5829]

8 hours ago, mercman24 said:

nice and peaceful place a few years ago. ?? thats what happens when a communist country tries to force their values on what basically has been a country with western leanings

Just completed reading, "Hong Kong" by Jan Morris. I found it an interesting read. While I agree that the history since 1842 has brought in western ideas, I would observe that those ideas had been "forced leanings" deviating from not only the CCP but the Chinese culture pre dating Mao's rise. Sticky wicket, that.

[wwest5829]

7 hours ago, Tug said:

Looks to me that a visit of the combined navy’s of the free world should pay Hong Kong a visit and do a bit ofshowing the flag there and other contested areas!

And here I thought Hong Kong has been recognized as included in the "One China" policy agreed to by the major countries.

[WalkingOrders]

3 hours ago, car720 said:

China actually has greater equal rights than the west when it comes to the genders.

https://www.scmp.com/article/1006063/one-child-policy-violates-rights

[Isaan sailor]

Ever wonder why the Baht stays so high?  Same ChiComs that park USD maturing reserves in central banks of sympathetic countries, aka hot money.  And they have paired their holdings down to $1.1 trillion.

[White Christmas13]

5 hours ago, rabas said:

The one you're probably in that lets you freely express your ideas without fear.

 

So that does not include Thailand then?

[Catoholic]

I went to Macao and Hong Kong about a year ago. Everything was really nice except the mainland Chinese people. They have the manners of barnyard animals.

[Bundooman]

9 hours ago, Assurancetourix said:

You will think what you want, but I notice that the English governments have always put the mess everywhere they have been.
What an idea to retrocede Hong Kong to a communist country ! 

Totally ignorant post. I suggest you educate yourself. Hong Kong is the extremely prosperous place it is today BECAUSE of the British influence. Hog Kong belongs to China. The UK had no choice but to hand it back once the original agreement expired.

 

In fact this post is an utterly stupid and vindictive sneer at the British. Take a good look at the politics of your own country first before you criticise others, Pal!

 

 

[Traubert]

22 minutes ago, Bundooman said:

Totally ignorant post. I suggest you educate yourself. Hong Kong is the extremely prosperous place it is today BECAUSE of the British influence. Hog Kong belongs to China. The UK had no choice but to hand it back once the original agreement expired.

 

In fact this post is an utterly stupid and vindictive sneer at the British. Take a good look at the politics of your own country first before you criticise others, Pal!

 

 

Give him his due mate. Don't sweep the Opium Wars under the carpet. That's where Hong Kong's prosperity originally came from, eons ago though it was.

[rabas]

7 hours ago, car720 said:

just as many girls as boys.  China actually has greater equal rights than the west when it comes to the genders.

Well yes, now that they let women have names. 

 

Before the communist party forced women to have names for registration, many rural women were essentially nameless. They were only known and addressed by kinship terms, teknonyms [mother of so and so], or category terms such as "old woman".

 

On the other hand, men often had several names based on their social importance.

 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/644457?seq=1

[Ireland32]

11 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

What is the free world?

Non Communist one 

[Ireland32]

8 hours ago, car720 said:

just as many girls as boys.  China actually has greater equal rights than the west when it comes to the genders.

That’s the problem No Women, one child policy , you know what they did to female babies, and and Bloomberg , South China Morning News , homophobic trolls for CCP on those sites , where’s your research to support your comment  

[Ireland32]

5 hours ago, Pedrogaz said:

The US should keep their nose out of China's business. What I can never understand is why countries allow US NGOs to come to their peaceful countries and stir up trouble, financing and organizing riots and terrorism. World wake up, the US is not a force for good, but rather a force for evil and war.

Go bash somewhere else, let’s discuss your country

[Ireland32]

4 hours ago, owl sees all said:

Good post.

 

Must have taken ages ages to put together. Anyone with as much enthusiasm as you, on any topic,  gets my support.

Chinese Fanboys 

[Scott]

Off-topic post removed.   An endless post of pictures isn't going to cut it on a discussion forum.  

 

[Redline]

11 hours ago, car720 said:

just as many girls as boys.  China actually has greater equal rights than the west when it comes to the genders.

Not true, but a glimpse of freedom I guess.  Do you mean women can be in the communist party?

[Cryingdick]

I am sure most American sailors will be delighted to do port calls in Japan instead. Tokyo is a much funner place than Hong Kong and is full of nubile Japanese chicks to entertain the troops. Another bonus is Japan is not on fire. 

[dimitriv]

11 hours ago, Coremouse said:

If you search "私了"( it means "let's have a private discussion" by rioters ) there're thousands of those bullying & murdering videos on the internet. 

 

 

Are there ways to verify this ?  I mean, without relying on Chinese state propaganda?  China has only 1 goal, which makes this news unreliable. I am sure that if this is true there are better sources to verify this.

 

 

[Traubert]

23 minutes ago, rabas said:

The premise of this thread is, can China's CPC drag itself into the 21st century, behave by accepted norms, and stop belligerent attempts to control people. Most of those 1.4 billion people would be very relieved.

 

The China that by all accredited norms is the leading economy in the world?

 

Yes I'm sure it can.

 

And the 1.4bn people, judging by what the Harvard Kennedy Institute found, are extremely happy with current progress.

 

Now, can America stop starting new wars on the thinnest of premises please? Or just downright lies, for that matter.

 

Thank you.

 

Maybe you can enlighten me how China is breaking the Sino/Brit accord of 1997, because no-one else seems to be able to including the worlds press agencies?