Hong Kong is not a random ATM opened in the US! China punched the US consulate in Hong Kong

On the occasion of the New Year, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said china-U.S. relations have come to a new crossroads and are expected to open a new window of hope. It is hoped that the new US administration will regain reason, resume dialogue, return bilateral relations to the right track and restart cooperation.

Hong Kong is not a random ATM opened in the US! China punched the US consulate in Hong Kong
Wang did not criticize Trump by name for treating China as the so-called biggest threat and therefore adopting a totally wrong policy toward China. Facts have proved that the COMPREHENSIVE suppression and containment of China by the US and its attempt to provoke a new “Cold War” have not only seriously harmed the interests of the two peoples, but also brought great harm to the world. They are bound to be unpopular and doomed to failure.

As a matter of fact, the Trump administration has done everything wrong on the Issue of Hong Kong, but the interests are all in its hands. Unfortunately, there are still a number of traitors in Hong Kong cooperating with their new master. The original British colonists flunky, keep up with the new master slave after more, like benny tai, Mr Lai and so on, for example, launched in 2014, accounts for the “illegal”, 2015, mongkok, “riots”, 2019 “black riots”, take “fire”, asked the western sanctions, Hong Kong, even the most basic survival benefit of the people of Hong Kong who betrayed trump.

Hong Kong is not a random ATM opened in the US! China punched the US consulate in Hong Kong
Naturally, these new traitors are egoists who, like Mr Lai, openly shout about “fighting for America’s interests”, think they can get more “dog food”. However, these new traitors are “ignorant of the current situation”, they have misjudged the situation. It’s no wonder trump is wrong. How smart can a low-grade dog be?

It is ridiculous that Trump is still calling for “the king of duty in Washington, D.C. on January 6”, so us personnel in China, including those in Hong Kong, are still spreading rumors and making profits. The US Consulate General in Hong Kong even thinks that they will take the money and Hong Kong is the ATM that they can open at will. It is expected that the end of 2020, want to sell the us embassy property in Hong Kong also stopped.

Hong Kong is not a random ATM opened in the US! China punched the US consulate in Hong Kong
The property the US wants to arbitrage is the Shouson Hill residence of the US Consulate in Hong Kong and Macao, which is owned by the US government. The sale of Hang Lung Properties, which was bid for hk $2.566 billion last September, was scheduled to close on Dec. 30. However, hang Lung Properties issued a notice on the same day, saying that it was unable to complete the acquisition of the premises of the US Consulate general in Hong Kong and Macao, because it was involved in Sino-us diplomatic affairs and was not under the control of the buyer.

On the same day, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said Wang Wenbin, according to the principle of reciprocity, China urges the United States embassies and consulates in China including the Hong Kong consulate, in leasing, purchase, sell, or in any other way or to the disposition of property, as well as the implementation of library building, rebuilding and expansion, repair and other projects, also must submit a written application corresponding to China in advance, and provide detailed information, after the Chinese written reply consent, just can deal with concerned formalities.

Hong Kong is not a random ATM opened in the US! China punched the US consulate in Hong Kong
This deal must be approved by the Chinese government! It struck me as a serious blow to the Yanks. Also hit the United States a surprise, I do not know what to do.

A spokesman for the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong and Macau said only that the buyer and seller needed more time to complete the administrative process and couldn’t comment at this stage.

I believe there will be variables to this deal. First, it will be left to the Biden administration. Second, if Mr Biden changes his policy towards China and Hong Kong, the US government may not want to cash out. Third, the property could double in value if, as Mr Wang has called for, a new Biden administration regains reason, reopens dialogue, gets relations back on track and restarts co-operation.

According to the author’s information, the us Consulate-General still owns properties in Hong Kong, including the consulate office at 26 Garden Road, Central, and the consular residence at Pak Ka Road, The Peak, with a total value of over HK $10 billion.

Hong Kong is not a random ATM opened in the US! China punched the US consulate in Hong Kong
Located at 37 Shoushan Village Road, Southern District, Hong Kong island, the us Consulate in Hong Kong has been unable to sell the property. It is a senior staff dormitory building with 6 three-storey buildings, an outdoor swimming pool and an area of about 10,522 square meters. The U.S. government bought it in 1946. In May last year, just as China was working on a national security law for the Port area, which was scheduled to take effect on July 1, the Trump administration revealed that the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong was interested in selling the property in order to “rebalance the allocation of overseas assets.” The consulate General held an official public tender on June 2. At the time, it was widely seen in Hong Kong as a sign that the US diplomatic service was preparing to leave the city, and the opposition in Hong Kong also caused panic and talked about emigration. There are also market analysts believe that the United States is to arbitrage away. The sale shows that the United States is assessing how much property prices in Hong Kong will fall as a result of U.S. sanctions, and is rushing to sell before the market falls.

At the time, Hong Kong’s property industry thought the prime property could fetch HK $10 billion. However, due to the deterioration of China-Us relations, especially the cancellation of Hong Kong’s special status by the US side, and the frequent sanctions against Hong Kong, this property transaction is inevitably politicized. As a result, big Companies with Chinese backing have stayed out of the game, and some of Hong Kong’s powerful Chinese conglomerates do not want to get involved either. In the end, Hang Lung won at a quarter of the market’s estimate.

Hong Kong is not a random ATM opened in the US! China punched the US consulate in Hong Kong
However, when the US bought it in 1948, it paid only HK $315,000. Even a HK $2.5 billion sale would be worth a lot more.

In fact, the United States had enjoyed diplomatic privileges under British rule in Hong Kong. After The return of Hong Kong, the British consortium gradually withdrew, and a considerable part of the interests transferred to the United States.

In fact, the us consulates in Hong Kong and Macao are now directly under the Us State Department, not under the leadership of the US Embassies in China. Edward Snowden, the former CIA agent who exposed the PRISM program, said the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong housed a CIA station.

When China and the UK negotiated on the future of Hong Kong, the US knew exactly how to cash in.

Hong Kong is not a random ATM opened in the US! China punched the US consulate in Hong Kong
In 1949 and 1950, the US government spent about 1.21 million yuan to purchase a series of properties. From December 1981 to May 1983, namely the first stage of Sino-British Negotiation on the Hong Kong issue, they were all sold. The total revenue reached 58.6 million yuan, which was about 48 times higher than the purchase. During the same period, the US government also sold section 524 of The Half-Hill House, which was granted free of charge by the British Government in 1886, for a profit of $46 million.

Politically, however, the Americans see further than the Brits. America care “business interests in Hong Kong, Hong Kong as an American intelligence sentry and strategic port, probably due to the return of Hong Kong is lost, but the benefit and the effect can be moved to nearby place instead of”, so the United States had no British government request and endorsed the British public intervention in the negotiations, to avoid damage of china-us relations.

When the Sino-British negotiations came to a conclusion, the United States turned to buying real estate by “sweeping goods”. In the middle of 1992, the US State Department spent about 106 million yuan to purchase 13 full-floor residential units, including roof and 14 parking Spaces, in Haohui Pavilion, McDonald’s Road, Mid-Levels Mountain, which has been used as staff quarters for the US Consulate ever since. It is now worth nearly seven times as much as it was when it was bought.

Hong Kong is not a random ATM opened in the US! China punched the US consulate in Hong Kong
Under the laws of Hong Kong, stamp duty is exempted on sales and leasing of diplomatic and consular offices and offices of international organizations. When the US State Department bought the 13 full-floor units in Mid-Levels Howie Court in 1992, it was granted tax exemption, avoiding about HK $3 million.

Unlike most foreign consulates in Hong Kong, which can only rent a small portion of office space at a high market price, the US government, due to the relationship between the British and Hong Kong governments in the past, not only has a large independent consular building in Hong Kong, but also enjoys privileges.

Hong Kong is not a random ATM opened in the US! China punched the US consulate in Hong Kong
I believe that if Biden improves relations with China, the US interests in Hong Kong are good. Otherwise, it is not impossible to close the US consulate-General in Hong Kong. The US Consulate general in Hong Kong is a historical relic, not a counterpart to China. Since the US does not recognize Hong Kong’s special status, there is no logic for opening a pavilion in Hong Kong.