Overview
- The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said the national emergency declared under the 2020 executive order has expired and the order was not renewed.
- OFAC removed some people from its original sanctions list and moved others, including Hong Kong leaders John Lee and Carrie Lam, onto a different U.S. sanctions list.
- China and the Hong Kong government welcomed the move and said it reflected understandings reached during recent U.S.-China trade talks and high-level meetings.
- The lapse could restore some preferential treatment on export controls and technology transfers for Hong Kong but exact policy changes and timelines remain to be announced by U.S. agencies.
- The 2020 order had stripped Hong Kong of separate U.S. treatment after Beijing imposed a national security law, and critics warn the change raises questions about responses to ongoing prosecutions of pro-democracy figures.