US says Hong Kong no longer has high degree of autonomy; Meng Wanzhou case to continue; India-China border tensions

As expected, US Secretary of State Pompeo has declared that:

Hong Kong does not continue to warrant treatment under United States laws in the same manner as U.S. laws were applied to Hong Kong before July 1997. No reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground.

Now we wait for what decision President Trump will make on what penalties to invoke, if any. Removing the special treatment on trade and immigration for Hong Kong will hurt Hong Kong citizens and US companies as much or more than it will hurt the CCP, so I think the odds are more weighted to restrictions around technology exports to Hong Kong and targeted moves against PRC SOEs, including financial ones, and certain officials. The scope and intensity of coming US actions appear to depend on what Trump decides about the value of trying to keep the trade deal alive.

Canada and Canadians in China should expect a rough time ahead given the decision earlier t…