Since 1990, except during the COVID years, AmCham HK has sent a leadership Doorknock to Washington DC every summer to understand US policy makers and experts’ views on Hong Kong, and to express our members’ views on the business environment in Hong Kong, as well as the opportunities and challenges here.
This year, Chairman Geoff Siebengartner led a 10-person Chamber leadership delegation to Washington for the Doorknock from July 8 to11. Participants included AmCham President Eden Woon, Vice Chairman David Butts, board members George Chen and Sally Peng, Law Committee co-chair Nick Turner, three former chairmen, Walter Dias, Jon Zinke, and Robert Grieves, as well as chamber staff Director of Corporate Affairs Queenie Tsui.
In the first two days, our AmCham delegation joined a larger group of AmChams of Asia Pacific (AAP) members in meetings covering regional issues such as the US trade agenda in the Indo-Pacific region, followed by Hong Kong-specific meetings in the last two days. The delegation met several Congressmen and staffers, senior administration officials from the National Security Council, State Department, Commerce Department, Department of the Treasury and the US Trade Representative office. It also met with policy experts from CSIS, Georgetown University and the US-China Business Council.
Given that this is also an election year with Washington abuzz with speculation about the November election, the delegation also received briefings from members of the American First Policy Institute and representatives from the Heritage Foundation on Project 2025 – a collection of conservative policy proposals to reshape the US federal government following the U.S 2024 Presidential Election, should the Republican nominee win.
On the US-China front, US-China relations have continued to be dismal since the balloon incident of February 2023, though there have been some signs of amelioration as a result of the Biden-Xi Summit in November 2023. While neither side wishes to see the relationship deteriorate further, the US objective of “Competition, Confrontation, and Cooperation” has matured into a steady-state but volatile China policy, which is barely keeping the relationship afloat. Distrust and suspicions from both sides are palpable.
Regarding Hong Kong, Washington’s highest priority is to see a robust implementation of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle. They are very concerned about the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (known as the “Article 23 legislation”), which was passed in March and is now being implemented alongside the 2020 National Security Law. Given Hong Kong’s position between China and the US, the overall US sentiment towards Hong Kong is quite negative, and US-Hong Kong relations are unlikely to improve any time soon.
The Chamber delegation reflected the views of its members by quoting from the latest Business Sentiments Survey results, which showed that a large majority of members are hunkering down and not leaving Hong Kong, are still confident in the rule of law and believe in Hong Kong as an excellent place to do business, while not expanding and not feeling optimistic about the future, mainly due to the geopolitical situation. Interlocutors in Washington had many questions about Hong Kong, as most of them have not visited the city for the past five years. They were marginally impressed with the situation described by the delegation, but shared frankly that the narrative on Hong Kong in Washington was too negative to anticipate any changes in views or in policy towards Hong Kong. Nevertheless, the delegation’s takeaway is that Hong Kong must continue to strengthen its “two systems” characteristics.
Although it is doubtful that there will be tangible changes in US policy towards Hong Kong, the Chamber delegation believes that the trip was worthwhile in not only to hear first-hand views from Washington on Hong Kong and China, but also for their interlocutors in Washington to hear from the delegation about the strategic importance of Hong Kong, the strong US-Hong Kong business and people ties, and that life in Hong Kong continues to be vibrant and diverse. They also appreciate that the Chamber frequently provides input to the HKSAR Government, thus playing an important role in maintaining Hong Kong’s stature as an international business city.
AmCham would like to acknowledge United Airlines for its tremendous support for the Doorknock as its Partner Airline:
