The United States' signing of a Hong Kong-related bill into law shows its clear intention to meddle in the city's local affairs and to use the city as a pawn to contain China, local politicians and experts said on Thursday.

Under the cynical guise of democracy and freedom, US politicians are attempting to profit from the social unrest in the special administrative region and put Hong Kong people's interests at risk, they added.

Former SAR chief executive Leung Chun-ying said that whoever initiated the law, whether American or Hong Kong people, never had the interests of Hong Kong in mind.

Leung, also vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the nation's top political advisory body, made the remarks when delivering a speech at a local event on Thursday.

"I don't think the US congressmen who voted for the act were fully or correctly informed," Leung said. "I don't think whoever initiated this...ever had the interest of Hong Kong in mind. It's a proxy thing. It's all about China."

Former president of the Legislative Council, Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, said that the US is actually using the law to threaten China politically and economically.

China's growth has been considered a threat to the US, a country that has always been a "big brother" in the world, said Fan, former member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress - China's top legislature.

By threatening to remove its special treatment of Hong Kong - as well as supporting the city's rioters as if they were fighting for democracy and human rights - the US is trying to put the SAR's stability at risk and diminish its economic contribution to China, to maintain the "economic supremacy" of US across the world, Fan said.

Tam Yiu-chung, a Hong Kong deputy to the NPC Standing Committee, said that by signing the bill, the US is using Hong Kong as a pawn to contain China, which will bring no good to the city and increase its economic uncertainty.

Henry Tang Ying-yen, a Hong Kong member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee, voiced contempt for the US move.

He said the US had shown double standards in handling foreign relations, and urged US politicians to focus on their own affairs.

The bill's signing also drew condemnation from the city's pro-establishment camp. Speaking at a news conference, Martin Liao Cheung-kong, convener of pro-establishment lawmakers, said the process of developing the bill had been full of prejudice. It also ran counter to the principles of democracy and human rights. Considering the close economic ties between Hong Kong and the US, the bill will hurt not only the interests of Hong Kong people, but also those of the US, Liao cautioned.

China Daily

(HK Edition 11/29/2019 page4)