In confirming yesterday that the United States was now ending preferential treatment for Hong Kong, and therefore considering it “the same” as mainland China as a jurisdiction, a provision of the President’s executive order revealed that the U.S State Department had in fact engaged in the training of Hong Kong Police Force Officers.
As per the order, Hong Kong Policemen originally received training and support from the “Department of State’s International Law enforcement academies“. Although this will now come to an end, observers will note the move is deeply ironic and even “double standards” given that a number of American politicians persistently criticized the HKPF for “Police Brutality”.
Whilst doing so, many American office holders also simultaneously encouraged hardline “law and order” measures in the United States over Black Lives Matter Protests. This included senators as Marco Rubio, Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton, the latter whom even demanded military action in an infamous op-ed penned in the New York Times.