(Reuters) – Lawmakers within the U.S. Home of Representatives have requested Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to rethink ties with Hong Kong’s banking sector, the Wall Avenue Journal reported on Monday.
Hong Kong has become a hub for a lot of violations of U.S. commerce controls, together with export of managed western expertise to Russia and the creation of entrance corporations to purchase Iranian oil, the bipartisan leaders of the Home Choose Committee on the Chinese language Communist Social gathering stated in a letter to Yellen, reviewed by the Journal.
The letter, which is scheduled to be publicly launched on Monday, stated that Hong Kong has shifted from being a trusted international monetary heart to a vital participant within the deepening authoritarian axis of China, Iran, Russia and North Korea.
“We should now query whether or not longstanding U.S. coverage in direction of Hong Kong, significantly in direction of its monetary and banking sector, is acceptable,” it stated, in accordance with the Journal.
The letter, signed by John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the committee, and Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat who’s the committee’s rating member, cited analysis that exhibits almost 40% of products shipped from Hong Kong to Russia in 2023 had been high-priority objects equivalent to semiconductors that Russia may use to prosecute its battle in Ukraine, WSJ stated.
The U.S. Treasury division and the Home Choose Committee didn’t instantly reply to Reuters’ requests for feedback. Hong Kong’s commerce workplace in New York couldn’t be instantly reached for remark.
