“If you take a snapshot today, I don’t think that group is capable of beating Trump despite what the polls say,” he said.
An ABC News/Washington Post survey released earlier this month showed five of the top Democratic challengers beating Trump by at least 9 and as many as 17 percentage points, a wider margin than in most other polls. Those five Democrats are former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Johnson, who described himself as a longtime Democrat, has made headlines multiple times for praising Trump for the “positive things” he’s done to grow the U.S. economy — something that he said he still stands by now.
But when asked if his praise for Trump means he’ll vote for the president in next year’s election, Johnson suggested that may not be the case.
“It means that I’m going to speak my mind, speak in an independent way based on the facts and not try to get caught up in the politics,” he said.
Hours after he signed two bills to support human rights in Hong Kong, angering Chinese government officials, pro-democracy protesters in the beleaguered city held a “Thanksgiving Rally” Thursday night to commend him for taking the action.
“Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong,” thousands of protestors chanted in a public square as they waved American flags and held up copies of the photo composite.
For the past six months, the former British colony has been rocked by mass protests that have spawned violence on both sides of the divide. More than 5,000 people have been detained since the discord began.
In the midst of a heated trade war between the US and China, Trump unexpectedly signed the two bills on Wednesday after they passed the House and Senate nearly unanimously, exacerbating Washington’s relationship with Beijing.
The new laws mandate sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials who carry out human rights abuses on the semiautonomous island, require an annual review of Hong Kong’s trade status and prohibit the export of specific nonlethal weapons to Hong Kong police.
Joshua Wong, a well-known pro-democracy activist who was among those who lobbied for the laws, told protesters Thursday their next goal is to get other Western leaders to follow in Trump’s footsteps in order to put pressure on the Chinese government to give in to their demands.
On the mainland, Chinese government officials were enraged by the new laws and said Trump is using Hong Kong as a pawn to hamper China’s growth and hit back at Beijing.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng told US Ambassador Terry Branstad that Beijing sees the move as “serious interference in China’s internal affairs and a serious violation of international law,” a ministry statement said.
Le went on to call it a “nakedly hegemonic act” and urged US officials to not implement the laws to avoid more damage to US relations with China, the ministry said.
In response, the US Embassy in Beijing said China’s Communist Party “must honor its promises to the Hong Kong people.”
The protests started in June over a Chinese extradition bill that pro-democracy protestors believed whittled away the freedoms promised to them when China regained control of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom in 1997.
Trump made a surprise visit to troops in Afghanistan on Thursday, his first to the nation as commander in chief.
The president met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani during his visit and announced the restart of peace talks with the Taliban and the planned reduction of U.S. troops in the country.
A strong winter storm lashed at Southern California on Thanksgiving, disrupting travel plans on one of the busiest days of the year.
Heavy snow shut down Interstate 5 through the Grapevine in the Tejon Pass this morning. The major north-south freeway was closed at 4:30 AM, but even prior to that, California Highway Patrol had to assist motorists to get through the steep area. Authorities were suggesting motorists try the 101 North as an alternate route, as there was no indication that the I-5 would reopen soon.
Several roads in the Angeles National Forest were also closed by snow.
The National Weather Service had a winter storm warning out for Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties that will remain in place through 4 AM on Friday. Heavy snow was falling in the Antelope Valley, including Palmdale and Lancaster.
By 2:15 PM, all roads to and from Big Bear were closed due to heavy snowfall.
China warned the United States on Thursday that it would take “firm counter measures” in response to U.S. legislation backing anti-government protesters in Hong Kong, and said attempts to interfere in the Chinese-ruled city were doomed to fail.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law congressional legislation which supported the protesters, despite angry objections from Beijing, with which he is seeking a deal to end a damaging trade war.
Protesters in Hong Kong responded by staging a “Thanksgiving” rally, with thousands, some draped in U.S. flags, gathering in the heart of the city.
“The rationale for us having this rally is to show our gratitude and thank the U.S Congress and also President Trump for passing the bill,” said 23-year-old Sunny Cheung, a member of the student group that lobbied for the legislation.
“We are really grateful about that and we really appreciate the effort made by Americans who support Hong Kong, who stand with Hong Kong, who do not choose to side with Beijing,” he said, urging other countries to pass similar legislation.
The law requires the State Department to certify, at least annually, that Hong Kong is autonomous enough to justify favorable U.S. trading terms that have helped it become a world financial center.
It also threatens sanctions for human rights violations.
The Chinese foreign ministry said the United States would shoulder the consequences of China’s countermeasures if it continued to “act arbitrarily” in regards to Hong Kong.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng summoned U.S. Ambassador Terry Branstad and demanded that Washington immediately stop interfering in China’s domestic affairs.
Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed government said the legislation sent the wrong signal to demonstrators and “clearly interfered” with the city’s internal affairs.
China is considering barring the drafters of the legislation, whose U.S. Senate sponsor is Florida Republican Marco Rubio, from entering mainland China as well as Hong Kong and Macau, Hu Xijin, the editor of China’s Global Times tabloid, said on Twitter.
It was a white Thanksgiving in Southern California, as a “weather whiplash” storm dumped several inches of snow in some regions — and helped to extinguish a wildfire, according to a new report.
Up to 8 inches of snow fell in some parts of the Antelope Valley, at the western tip of the Mojave Desert, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Over the last two days, Lancaster has seen 4 to 5 inches of snow and 3 inches fell in nearby Palmdale, the paper reported.
Part of Interstate 5 was also closed amid heavy snow, according to the report.
The snow helped extinguish a blaze known as the Cave Fire in Santa Barbara County that had threatened homes earlier in the week, authorities told the outlet.
“This is just really unique. We’ve never had fire with active snowfall near the point of origin. It’s very unusual,” county fire department spokesman Mike Eliason told the outlet. “It was a very thankful moment. Thankful that no one got injured, no one lost their home. That the snow came over heavy rain. And I’m just thankful that everybody got home safe.”
The weather was a significant departure from conditions earlier this month, climatologist Bill Patzert noted.
“It was weather whiplash — an abrupt change from hot and dry to unusually frigid,” he told the outlet. “Like 0 to 60 in a Tesla.”
AP
Meanwhile, intense downpours have drenched other parts of Southern California.
The Los Angeles Basin saw half an inch to 1 ¼ inches of rain over a 12-hour period ending Thursday morning, the National Weather Service told the Times.
San Francisco — which, for the most part, has been dry for about eight months — saw about an inch of rain, along with pea-sized hail.
The snow brought a mixture of glee and dismay to Californians on Twitter.
“It’s actually snowing in California!!!” one person wrote. “It’s been so so long since we last had snow where I live! THIS IS AMAZING!!!! It’s SOOOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!”
“People are excited about snow in California,” another user shared. “THATS SCARY AS HELL. IT AINT SUPPOSED TO SNOW HERE GUYS.”
Maj. Gen. Jeon Dong Jin, a senior operations officer at the JCS, said the projectiles flew about 380 kilometers (235 miles) at a maximum altitude of 97 kilometers (60 miles). He said South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities were continuing to analyze the details.
“Our military expresses its strong regret over (the launches) and urges (North Korea) to immediately stop acts that escalate military tensions,” Jeon said in a televised briefing. He said the military is monitoring possible additional launches by North Korea.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned the launches as a “serious challenge” to both Japan and the international community, even though the projectiles did not land inside Japanese territorial waters.
He said his government will “do its utmost” to protect the lives and assets of Japanese people.
The reported launches were the 13th major public weapons test by North Korea this year and the first since it conducted what it called a test-firing of a new “super-large” multiple rocket launcher late last month. That launcher is apparently the same system that South Korea’s military said was likely used in Thursday’s launches.
Abe called the projectiles “ballistic missiles.” Some experts have said that projectiles fired from the “super-large” multiple rocket launcher are virtually missiles or missile-class weapons.
On Monday, North Korea said leader Kim visited a front-line islet and ordered artillery troops there to practice firing near the sea boundary, the scene of several bloody naval clashes between the Koreas in past years. South Korea protested the drills, saying they violated an agreement last year aimed at lowering military animosity.
Seoul’s Defense Ministry said the artillery firing occurred on Nov. 23, the 9th anniversary of the North Korean shelling of a South Korean border island that killed four South Koreans in 2010.
With nuclear diplomacy with the United States largely deadlocked, North Korea has test-fired a series of newly developed weapons to pressure the U.S. while using the standstill in negotiations to upgrade its military capabilities. In early October, it conducted its first underwater launch of a ballistic missile in three years.
Attention is now focused on whether North Korea will resume long-range missile and nuclear tests which have been suspended since it conducted the third of three intercontinental ballistic missile tests in November 2017. President Donald Trump has called the suspension of those tests a major achievement of his North Korea policy.
Some experts say North Korea may restart those major weapons tests if the United States fails to meet the deadline. But others say North Korea is likely to begin with less serious provocations while attempting to improve cooperation with China and Russia, because ICBM and nuclear tests would completely derail diplomacy with the United States.
In recent weeks, high-level North Korean officials have issued statements via state media saying their country is not interested in diplomacy with the U.S. unless Washington abandons hostile policies toward the North.
North Korea says it wants the U.S. to lift international sanctions imposed on it and provide security guarantees before abandoning its advancing nuclear arsenal. But U.S. officials have said the sanctions on the North will remain in place until North Korea takes substantial steps toward denuclearization.
The nuclear negotiations broke down in February when Trump rejected Kim’s demands for major sanctions relief in return for partial disarmament steps during their second summit in Vietnam. They held a third, impromptu meeting in late June at the Korean border village of Panmunjom.
The American Red Cross took in about 80 people at an emergency shelter in Beaumont, where children played in boxes and adults ate donated turkey dinners on their cots.
“We’ve been hammered pretty hard,” said Chester Jourdan, the executive director of the Red Cross in southeast Texas, who himself lives within the evacuation area and whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Rita in 2005. But because of that shared history, he added, “we just have a lot of folks who understand we live in an area where we have to take care of each other.”
Melissa Quevedo, who lives within the evacuated area in Groves, had plans for a Thanksgiving feast: turkey, dirty rice, the ingredients for coconut and lemon pies. “All that’s back home,” she said. Instead, she was with her parents and their two German shepherds, Prince and Piper, in a hotel in Sulphur, La., just over the state line. Her gratitude outweighed her frustration.
“As long as we know that we’re O.K., that’s all that really matters,” said Ms. Quevedo, the legislative director for a local state lawmaker, Joe Deshotel. “We have a lot to be thankful for because things certainly could have been different.”
David Montgomery contributed reporting from Austin, Texas, and Farah Stockman from Boston.
As a strong winter storm, which dumped a foot of snow around Minneapolis, weakened and moved to the northeast on Thursday, a second storm pounded Northern California, setting up the likelihood of heavy snow spreading across the northern tier of the country as travelers head home at the end of the weekend.
“A major winter storm will continue to produce heavy mountain snow and high winds across much of the Western United States through Thanksgiving Day before tracking over the Rockies on Friday,” the National Weather Service said. “This storm will go on to produce significant snow and blizzard conditions across the Northern Plains through Saturday before moving to the Great Lakes and Northeast Sunday and Monday.”
Weather Channel forecasters warned of the possibility of end-of-holiday travel delays from wet or snow-covered roads and flight delays because of low pressure moving into the East.
While the first system, which hit early this week, was still expected to produce mighty gusts across much of the Northeast, it fell short in Manhattan, allowing organizers of the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade to permit the iconic balloons to float above the crowds as the floats wound their way through New York City streets.
Under parade rules, the balloons are lowered, or even grounded, when sustained winds exceed 23 mph and gusts exceed 34 mph.
Forecasters said the fading storm was still likely to drop 3 to 6 inches of snow from northern New Hampshire into northern Maine and generate windy conditions in much of the Northeast.
The storm, which began to weaken on Thanksgiving Day, disrupted some holiday travelers with flight cancellations and icy roadways as it spread from the Rockies across the northern tier on Tuesday and Wednesday.
One person was killed near the ski town of Vail, Colorado, when a tractor-trailer jackknifed and was hit by two other trucks on Interstate 70.
Nine inches to a foot of snow around Minneapolis forced the city to declare a snow emergency Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the second, powerful storm in the Northwest, which had been dubbed a “bomb cyclone,” forced the shutdown Wednesday of 100 miles of Interstate 5 between Yreka and Redding in Northern California because of cars spinning out, according to CalTrans.
A “bomb cyclone” is a rapidly intensifying winter storm that is triggered by a precipitous drop in atmospheric pressure. This one on Tuesday in Northern California trapped many travelers on the road for hours, and some spent the night in their cars.
Christina Williams of Portland, Oregon, told the Associated Press it took her and her 13-year-son 17 hours to reach Redding, a trip that usually takes seven hours.
Williams said she and other stranded drivers connected on Twitter using weather-related hashtags and began to communicate to find out what conditions were like in other parts of the backup.
“There were spinouts everywhere. There were trucks that were abandoned. And every time we stopped and started moving again, there were people who couldn’t start moving again,” Williams said. “Every time we stopped I was like, ‘Is this it? Are we going to be here overnight?’”
Forecasters said heavy snow is likely through the end of the week from the
Sierra Nevada to the central and northern Rockies, with 1 to 2 feet of snow in many of these areas.
By Friday, as the storm moves eastward, snow is forecast to develop across the northern Plains, where winter storm watches are now in effect.
Prince Andrew’s socialite ex is considering penning an explosive tell-all book — including details of a dinner party with Jeffrey Epstein attended by both Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, it was claimed Thursday.
She says she was introduced to the pedophile by his accused madam Ghislaine Maxwell — who she likened to a James Bond character — and feels she only escaped Epstein’s clutches because she was “too old.”
But Hervey kept back many of the juiciest details, which she now could put in an explosive book that could further embarrass the disgraced duke, according to The Sun.
“There is a lot that she has never revealed about the Royal family, members of high society and big-named stars,” a source close to her told the paper.
“She’s done many interviews but has always kept many things under her belt.
“She feels like now is the right time to get some things off her chest — including about Prince Andrew, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
“She’d been a part of that social scene for many years.”
Hervey’s “really explosive life” also includes “debauched drug-fueled parties, threesomes with celebrities — all sorts,” the source told The Sun of her book plans.
“She has had a lucrative offer to write a book and she’s definitely considering it,” the source said.
Hervey was 23 in 1999 when she says Epstein’s ex Maxwell — a loyal friend of Andrew’s — set her up for a date with the royal in 1999.
One of the most bizarre evenings of that period included an intimate dinner in London with Andrew and Epstein that was also attended by now-bitter rivals Trump and Clinton, she previously told The Mirror.
She believes she was filmed by secret cameras when she stayed at one of Epstein’s Manhattan properties and feels lucky to have not become one of his alleged victims.
“It’s horrifying. It could have been me – but maybe I was too old,” she told The Mirror.
Dozens of American flags fluttered in the wind on Thanksgiving night in Hong Kong as thousands gathered at a rally in appreciation of the U.S. passage of two bills supporting human rights in Hong Kong that were signed into law by President Trump.
As a man sang “The Star-Spangled Banner,” a sea of cellphone torches lit up the spaces between glittering skyscrapers in the city’s financial district. The crowd waved banners bearing the protest slogan: “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.”
“I guess Trump wanted to give us a Thanksgiving present, and we’re glad to accept,” said Wong Yiu-Chung, a professor of politics at Lingnan University in Hong Kong who was attending the rally with his wife.
Wong said Trump probably signed the bill for his own benefit. “But sometimes interests coincide,” he said. “This act gives us a lot of hope.”
Trump signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act into law on Wednesday, mandating an annual review of whether Hong Kong retains enough autonomy to justify its special trade status with the U.S. The semi-autonomous Chinese territory has separate legal and economic systems because of its history as a British colony.
“I signed these bills out of respect for President Xi, China, and the people of Hong Kong,” Trump wrote in a statement. “They are being enacted in the hope that Leaders and Representatives of China and Hong Kong will be able to amicably settle their differences leading to long term peace and prosperity for all.”
The law also calls for sanctions against Hong Kong and Chinese officials judged to have harmed human rights in Hong Kong. A second bill signed by Trump bans the export of riot control weapons including tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and water cannons to Hong Kong.
Analysts say the new laws are mostly symbolic and unlikely to result in actual sanctions or a change in Hong Kong’s status anytime soon.
Much of what the law says is redundant, said Julian Ku, a law professor at Hofstra University, because the president already has powers to impose targeted sanctions on human rights offenders. The new law has stronger language in saying he “shall” sanction them but leaves the president with the authority to determine who qualifies as an offender.
It’s also unlikely that immediate changes will happen regarding Hong Kong’s trade and investment status, as threatened in the act if the territory is deemed insufficiently autonomous.
That would hurt mainland China, which relies on Hong Kong as a financial hub whose rule of law allows connections to outside investors wary of China’s ambiguous system — but it would also hurt U.S. and Hong Kong interests.
“At the end of the day, both Beijing and Washington, and Hong Kong people, want to maintain the status quo regarding the customs territory,” said Willy Lam, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Centre for China Studies.
Targeted sanctions on individuals such as Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, the police commissioner or mainland Chinese officials could send a stronger message without harming the economy. But the professor Lam, who is not related to the chief executive, said Trump was unlikely to pursue them because of his interest in negotiating a U.S.-China trade deal.
“He doesn’t want to go too far in antagonizing the Chinese,” Lam said.
Nevertheless, the law’s near-unanimous passage through both houses of Congress, together with the victory of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp in recent local elections, are a vindication for the protesters.
“They have won a very important moral victory,” Lam said.
For months leading up to local elections, Hong Kong and Beijing authorities had condemned protesters, speaking of a “silent majority” in Hong Kong that wished for an end to unrest and would ostensibly come out to vote for pro-establishment candidates last week. The elections proved them wrong.
“When I heard Donald Trump had signed the act this morning, I was so happy,” said a 40-year-old woman attending the rally with her two children. She withheld her full name out of fear or reprisal by authorities. “The election proved that we are the majority, and now this shows that we are supported around the world as well.”
Chinese officials fired off a flurry of angry statements Thursday, condemning the new law as an act of foreign intervention aimed at containing China’s growth and “an epitome of gangster violence,” in the words of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Commissioner’s Office in Hong Kong.
“Facts have proven that the United States is the biggest culprit in disrupting Hong Kong,” said the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of China’s State Council in a statement, which said “all Chinese, including Hong Kong people” were against the act.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the U.S. ambassador to China and suggested coming retaliation in a statement: “We urge the U.S. to not continue going down the wrong path, or China will take countermeasures, and the US must bear all consequences,” it said.
But China’s options for retaliation beyond rhetoric are limited, in part because Beijing badly wants and needs a trade deal.
“It is threatening to cut off U.S. leaders like Nancy Pelosi from visiting or doing business in China,” Ku said, “but she doesn’t visit or do business in China much anyway.”
China could also target U.S. companies seen as supporting Hong Kong protests or refuse to make trade concessions, but both are actions China was already taking.
Chinese state media outlets were careful to blame members of Congress rather than President Trump for the law. The Global Times, a hawkish state-run publication, cited several Chinese academics implying Trump had no choice but to sign the bill.
“Trump lacks the political power to veto the bill,” one said. “Trump is dissatisfied with politicians in Congress,” said another. The state-run People’s Dailywrote that “the U.S. Congress, full of evil intentions, is trying to stir up troubles” and that “some American politicians” were trying to destabilize Hong Kong.
Wang Yong, professor of international studies at Peking University, said the focus on Congress rather than Trump was a sign of Chinese authorities’ desire to leave space for a trade deal despite political tensions over China’s policies in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
“China will try not to let the Hong Kong problem and other tensions affect the trade deal. They try to handle it by separate tracks,” he said. “Right now the leaders, including Chinese leaders and Trump and negotiators, all have this way of thinking, to keep trade separate from politics. … China will keep trying to make a deal.”
Wang also agreed that the new act was mostly symbolic, which meant China was also unlikely to take real retaliatory action against the U.S.
What’s more likely is that Beijing will take out its anger on Hong Kong, enforcing stricter control over policies, trying to change the education system and pushing for stronger national security laws, as called for in a recent meeting of the Communist Party’s Central Committee.
That sets the stage for further conflict, as newly emboldened protesters, backed up by Western support, face off with a hardened Chinese leadership.
Thursday’s rally was peaceful but ended in clashes again as dozens of riot police appeared at the rally’s exit route. Rally attendees shouted at the police, who then charged and arrested at least one person and injured at least one other.
“Enforcement of the act can’t come soon enough,” said pro-democracy legislator Ray Chan. “With sanctions in place, the police will no longer act with impunity.”
Chan said he hoped other countries including the United Kingdom and Canada and members of the European Union would introduce their own versions of the law.
“They send a strong signal that Hong Kongers are not alone,” he said.
Special correspondent Ho Kilpatrick reported from Hong Kong and staff writer Su from Taipei. Times Beijing bureau staff Gaochao Zhang and Nicole Liu contributed to this report.
Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, left a Thanksgiving Eve bash after he was loudly berated by former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley for his role in enforcing President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. The two men were at the Dubliner, a bar in Washington, D.C. that is popular with graduates of Gonzaga College High School on Thanksgiving Eve. The two men attended the school.
According to a witness who tweeted about the encounter, Siobhan Arnold, O’Malley was already at the bar when Cuccinelli walked inside. It wasn’t long before the two men were face-to-face and a “shame-invoking tirade” by O’Malley began. “O’Malley was shouting,” Arnold said. “I don’t think Cuccinelli was responding. I think he’s like, ‘Time to go. Just got here and I’m leaving.’ He pretty much retreated.”
O’Malley confirmed the encounter to the Washington Post via text message, insisting he didn’t shout at Cuccinelli but said he raised his voice “just to be heard” over the noise at the bar. O’Malley, who was Maryland governor from 2007 to 2015, claims he wasn’t the only one who criticized Cuccinelli, who he described as “the son of immigrant parents who cages children for a fascist president,” for the Trump administration policy of separating migrant children from their parents. “We all let him know how we felt about him putting refugee immigrant kids in cages — certainly not what we were taught by the Jesuits at Gonzaga,” O’Malley, who launched an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, wrote.
Cuccinelli has been one of the most hardline defenders of Trump’s immigration policies. Earlier this year, he spoke at the Center for Immigration Studies, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has characterized as an “anti-immigrant hate group.”
In response to the U.S. move, activists chanted “Stand with Hong Kong” and “Save Us,” and urged the world to follow in America’s footsteps. Joshua Wong, a prominent activist who was among democracy supporters who lobbied for the new U.S. laws, praised them as a “remarkable achievement,” with human rights triumphing over crucial U.S.-China trade talks.
On Wednesday, Trump signed two bills into law. One prescribes economic sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials found guilty of human rights abuses. The second bill bans the export of certain nonlethal munitions to the former British colony’s police.
A protester holds American flags during a demonstration in Hong Kong’s financial district on Thursday.Kin Cheung / AP
“I signed these bills out of respect for President Xi, China, and the people of Hong Kong,” said Trump in a statement released by the White House. “They are being enacted in the hope that leaders and representatives of China and Hong Kong will be able to amicably settle their differences leading to long term peace and prosperity for all.”
China, which has been struggling to contain anti-government protests roiling Hong Kong for nearly six months, responded with a stream of angry replies.
“We urge the U.S. to not continue going down the wrong path, or China will take countermeasures, and the U.S. must bear all consequences,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The editor of the Global Times, a newspaper owned by the Chinese Communist Party, responded sarcastically to Trump’s message.
“Out of respect for President Trump, the U.S. and its people, China is considering [putting] the drafters of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act on the no-entry list, barring them from entering Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao,” Hu Xijin wrote in a post on Twitter.
Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong expressed “extreme anger” toward the U.S., and added that Hong Kong belongs to China and “the Chinese have the ability to deal with Hong Kong affairs.”
Hong Kong’s government joined in, describing the bills’ passage as “unnecessary and unwarranted,” and warning that they would strike a blow against the “relations and common interests” of Hong Kong and the U.S.
Thousands, many waving American flags, gathered in Hong Kong’s financial district to celebrate the bills signed by Trump.
“This rally is to show our gratitude to America and also President Trump for passing the bill,” said Sunny Cheung, the rally organizer.
Student David So agreed.
“I think it’s a happy news,” he said. “It’s an international recognition on today’s Hong Kong situation.”
“Ultimately it’s up to us. The bills have their deterrent effects but Hong Kongers are the real ones who fight on,” he added.
Millions of Hong Kongers initially took to the streets over the summer to protest a controversial extradition bill that many feared would extend Beijing’s control over the city. The amorphous movement has developed wider demands for greater democracy, such as establishing an independent commission of inquiry into police brutality and universal suffrage.
So the U.S. bills are a major boost for the protesters, according to Joseph Cheng, a political science professor at City University of Hong Kong.
“Certainly, a lot of us are quite helpless in front of Beijing and Carrie Lam’s administration and the police,” he said, referring to the territory’s beleaguered chief executive. “I think what worries the Chinese authorities [is] the turning tide in the public opinion of the United States and the Western world.”
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