The U.S. isn't after our tariffs, but our survival, official says

Efforts to suppress Hong Kong and contain China's rise are doomed to fail

Kindergarten students read national security-themed comic books at the launch event at Olympian City 2, in Mong Kok, Hong Kong, on Tuesday. (Photo by Andy Chong/China Daily)

The United States' escalating tariffs on Hong Kong are a blatant act of economic suppression and will ultimately backfire, China's top official overseeing Hong Kong and Macao affairs said on Tuesday, warning that efforts to destabilize the city and contain China's rise are doomed to fail.

In a pre-recorded speech for a high-profile national security event in Hong Kong, Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, condemned Washington for its "arrogant and shameless" decision to impose tariffs averaging 145 percent on goods from Hong Kong — a city long known as a free port and one of the largest contributors to the U.S. trade surplus.

Calling the U.S. "the biggest sinister manipulator", Xia said the new tariffs were a clear attempt to erode Hong Kong's prosperity and challenge China's rise.

"The U.S. isn't after our tariffs — it is after our very survival," he said.

And he warned the pressure would only hasten the decline of U.S.-backed proxies in the city.

"Let those American peasants wail before the 5,000-year-old civilization of the Chinese nation!" Xia said, borrowing the term used by U.S. Vice-President JD Vance in a recent interview, in which he referred to the U.S. borrowing from "Chinese peasants".

Xia, who also heads the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, said the Chinese people would not be intimidated by any form of trade pressure, vowing resistance to tariff wars, trade wars and "any kind of war".

"It is extremely naive to think that by flattering, bowing down to, or pleading with the U.S., we can achieve peace, respect, and development," Xia said.

The speech came during the opening ceremony of China's 10th National Security Education Day in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which also marks the fifth anniversary of the implementation of the National Security Law for Hong Kong and the enactment of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.

Xia used the occasion to call for stronger national unity and vigilance, warning that external interference remains a serious threat. He said China's rise as the world's second-largest economy and top industrial power would not be derailed by foreign pressure.

"Standing firmly with the motherland and on the right side of history is the integrity and moral backbone that the Chinese people possess," he said.

"Those who betray national interests and cheer for the enemy at critical moments will never be tolerated… and will surely meet a grim fate and bear the curse of history."

HK Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu warned that anti-China agitators continue to carry out "soft resistance" in Hong Kong and called for constant vigilance.

Zheng Yanxiong, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR, said the biggest risk facing the city is forgetting the lessons of the 2019 unrest, which Xia earlier described as "a Hong Kong version of a color revolution."