The US has previously focused criticism of China for suppressing free speech, targeting journalists and civil society groups and denying Hong Kong residents the right to freely select their leader. Blinken’s comments on Friday underscored growing criticism that a legal system that helped make the city a hub for multinational firms has been harmed by efforts to quash the democracy movement that led to massive, sometimes-violent protests in 2019.

“The People’s Republic of China continues to erode Hong Kong’s judicial independence and the rule of law,” Blinken said in a statement. “This past year, PRC and Hong Kong authorities have further criminalized dissent, undermining the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people in Hong Kong and dismantling the city’s promised autonomy.”

Blinken’s comments accompanied a State Department annual report that detailed how it said Hong Kong authorities continued to wield the National Security Law imposed by Beijing in 2020 to erode the rule of law. Officials have continued to “arrest and prosecute people for peaceful political expression critical of the local and central governments, including for posting and forwarding social media posts,” according to the report.

Hong Kong’s response

In a lengthy response, a Hong Kong government spokesman said the city “strongly disapproved of and firmly rejected the unfounded and fact-twisting remarks and also the smears” contained in the report. Hong Kong urged the US to stop “interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs at large,” and said the city’s judges remained “independent and impartial” and “free from any interference,” even on cases involving national security.

Legal scholars have criticized the security law, among other things, for a provision that allows Hong Kong’s leader to handpick judges who try national security cases, as well as remove them if the judge “makes any statement or behaves in any manner endangering national security.”

Blinken’s critical comments, and the detailed report, come as Hong Kong’s China-picked leader John Lee attempts to revive the city’s reputation as an Asian finance hub following the dismantling of Covid—related travel restrictions that kept the city isolated during the worst of the pandemic. Part of Hong Kong’s longstanding appeal to international business is the historic reputation of the city’s courts, which are distinct from courts in China that are effectively controlled by the Communist Party.

The Hong Kong government “faces a real challenge as it tries to pivot away from the events of 2019 and 2020, and to refocus international attention on Hong Kong’s longtime role as a business hub,” said Thomas Kellogg, the executive director of Georgetown University’s Center for Asian Law.

“It will be hard for the Hong Kong government to convince the international community that the changes wrought by the NSL — and the damage done to judicial independence — will have no effect on the business environment,” he said, referring to the National Security Law. “After all, several key NSL provisions require private businesses to provide evidence in NSL cases, which would be a reputational nightmare for any Western business that found itself on the receiving end of such an inquiry from the Hong Kong police.”

The State Department criticism only adds to ongoing US-China tensions over everything from US efforts to curtail the flow of advanced semiconductors to China to the “transit” this week through the US of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen, whose expected meeting in California with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has prompted threats from Chinese officials.