“Carrie Lam” Faces Problem with Credit Cards as U.S. Sanctions Starting to Take a Toll

Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam said she’s having trouble with her credit cards after the U.S. imposed sanctions targeting Chinese officials over the new national security law.

 

“We have to use some financial services and we don’t know whether that will relate back to an agency that has some American business, and the use of credit cards will be sort of hampered and so on,” said Lam. “But those are really meaningless, as far as I am concerned.

“The most important is we feel honorable, that we are at this historic moment being trusted by the central people’s government to enforce a piece of national law to safeguard national security,” she added.

 

China’s parliament on June 30, 2020, unanimously passed national security legislation for Hong Kong prohibiting acts of secession, subversion of state power, terrorism activities and collusion with foreign or external forces to endanger national security, with expected to carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

The move raised concerns, then followed with criticism, from other nations over freedom of Hongkongers. Later, the U.S. removed Hong Kong’s special status and vowed to use the same measurement as China.

However, Lam said that Hong Kong made preparations for the U.S. move and estimated that the trade restrictive measures will only cause a little inconvenience, stressing that the impact on Hong Kong’s technological innovation sector will be limited.

 

Nevertheless, the problem with credit cards is the first individual impact from the sanctions and more inconvenience might follow.