The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today expressed strong opposition to the passage of the Senate version of the Hong Kong Human Rights & Democracy Act and another act on the city by the House of Representatives of the US Congress.

In a statement, the Hong Kong SAR Government said the two acts would not only interfere in Hong Kong's internal affairs, but would also send an erroneous signal to the violent protesters, which would not be conducive to de-escalating the situation in the city.

The SAR Government clearly stated yesterday that both acts are unnecessary and unwarranted.

The statement noted that the US has enormous economic interests in Hong Kong, including earning from Hong Kong the largest bilateral trade surplus amongst its global trading partners for the past decade, with last year’s surplus standing at over US$33 billion.

Any unilateral change of US economic and trade policy towards Hong Kong would create a negative impact on shared relations as well as the US’ own interests. Furthermore, Hong Kong and the US have close co-operation on export control and law enforcement.

The SAR Government added that it aims to maintain a mutually beneficial co-operative relationship with the US.

It expressed hope that the US Government would keep this objective in mind and handle the acts prudently, avoiding making them into US law.

It reiterated that foreign governments and legislatures should not interfere in any form in the city’s internal affairs.