Home Headline ‘Made in Hong Kong’ victim of tensions between the US and China

‘Made in Hong Kong’ victim of tensions between the US and China

Su Xinqi

In Hong Kong, employees at the Koon Chun sauce factory work hard to cover hundreds of thousands of bottles with a new “Made in China” label, proof that this popular Hong Kong brand is a victim of Chinese-American tensions.

Founded a century ago, the family business has survived a world war, numerous economic crises and the slow demise of Hong Kong’s manufacturing industry to the benefit of the much less expensive labor force in mainland China.

It produces soy and oyster sauces that are very popular in Chinese restaurants around the world.

But, since November, to be sold in the United States, products imported from Hong Kong must have the inscription “Made in China”.

This measure was imposed by Washington in response to the new and draconian national security law that Beijing began to apply in semi-autonomous territory.

The new rule was announced in July by US customs, two days before a shipment of 1,300 boxes of Koon Chun sauces to Atlanta.

Overnight, employees were forced to stick the new labels on all merchandise destined for the United States.

“It was an impossible mission,” Daniel Chan told AFP, at the factory founded in 1928 by his grandfather.

The adoption of the Chinese security law is seen as Beijing’s response to months of pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2019.

Economic repercussions
The revocation in July, as a reprisal, of the preferential trade status agreed by the United States to Hong Kong has serious consequences.

The economic repercussions were immediate in the former British colony, which was already in recession.

And “Made in Hong Kong” products were the first to be affected.

Chan, who studied at Harvard in the United States, expected the political landscape to change in Hong Kong, but not so fast.

“I imagined something would happen around 2047, the official end date for the ‘One country, two systems’ principle,” says Chan, referring to the devolution agreement that guaranteed Hong Kong 50 years of unknown freedoms in the rest of China.

The company’s 90 employees had to adapt to the change and now have to manufacture new labels in which the words “Made in Hong Kong” are replaced by “Made in China”.

The companies did, however, get an extension after Hong Kong’s Commerce Minister Edward Yau announced Washington’s decision to postpone regulation of the new labeling until November.

But the minister threatened the United States with action at the World Trade Organization (WHO).

He also stated that exports to the United States of Hong Kong products accounted for just US $ 400 million in 2019, that is, less than 0.1% of the territory’s exports.

But Chan doesn’t see it that way, since half of his merchandise is destined for the United States, where the brand is especially appreciated by the Chinese diaspora.

And when he thinks about the future, Chan fears that other international markets will follow suit.

“In 20 or 30 years, people will only have ‘Made in China’ and they will forget about Hong Kong”, he laments, before adding: “This is all very sad”.

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