China reacted furiously Thursday to President Donald Trump’s signing two bills aimed at supporting human rights in Hong Kong, summoning the U.S. ambassador to protest and warning the move would undermine cooperation with Washington.Why do I say that Trump had no alternative? This:
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The U.S. laws, which passed both chambers of Congress almost unanimously, mandate sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials who carry out human rights abuses in Hong Kong, require an annual review of Hong Kong’s favorable trade status and prohibit the export to Hong Kong police of certain nonlethal munitions.
The House passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act by a vote of 417 to 1 on Nov. 20. The lone holdout was Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). That vote came one day after the Senate approved the measure unanimously.A veto would have been overridden in a New York minute.
On the other hand, Trump could have asked his flying monkeys in Congress to block the bill, and Moscow Mitch might have done that. But Trump is not in a good place politically; being seen as standing up for the Chinese Communists over pro-democracy protesters (even when he had previously seemed to approve of brutal crackdowns).
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