On Sept 6, the US Departments of State, Agriculture, Commerce, Homeland Security, and Treasury jointly released an updated “business advisory” concerning the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, which warned of “legal, regulatory, operational, financial, and reputational risks”.

Citing the implementation of national security laws in Hong Kong, the advisory claimed that businesses would face “increased scrutiny, potential financial penalties, and legal actions” because of the laws. Not surprisingly, the usual commentators in the Western mainstream media quickly affirmed their tedious and repetitive narrative that “Hong Kong is dead”.

First of all, it should be more than obvious that the US advisory is politically motivated, rather than an accurate representation of the situation on the ground. It has long been characteristic of the US narrative, amplified by the Western mainstream media, to claim that the implementation of national security related legislation pertaining to a very tiny group of political radicals, somehow constitutes an undermining of “the rule of law” in the city and is “bad for business”.

As I have cited many times, no such negativity has ever existed in the Western mindset about similar national security law provisions in places such as the United States, the United Kingdom, or even South Korea.

In pushing this line of argument, it is always subsequently claimed that such national security provisions will somehow randomly, indiscriminately, and arbitrarily target businesses, therefore as it goes you should “reconsider investing” in Hong Kong. But how exactly? These laws were created from 2020 onward in response to the political unrest and riots in Hong Kong and have specifically dealt with attempts to undermine the lawful sovereignty of China over Hong Kong, which effectively amounted to insurrection. Since that time, commercial life in Hong Kong has very much returned to normal and business goes on.

Yet the narrative and image that the US wants to cultivate is that “Hong Kong is now a police state” and that the response by authorities to that insurrection constitutes an “abuse of power” that will randomly and irrationally target foreign businesses.

This is little more than deliberate fearmongering and has no basis in reality. Why exactly will businesses be randomly caught up in high political matters pertaining to national sovereignty? The city has always been renowned for its adherence to a rule of law system and remains one of the most important financial and business centers in Asia. It is simply unreasonable to claim that matters of national sovereignty and national security would act contrary to this, as if to say the city would be better in a state of anarchy and chaos.

Rather, it is the express political intent of the US to deliberately undermine Hong Kong’s reputation, not because the climate for business has changed. Rather, the fundamental issue that lies at the heart of the Hong Kong conflict is the idea that the city should exclusively serve as a bridgehead to project Western interests into the Chinese mainland, as opposed to the city, as part of China, serving the interests of the country.

This is ultimately the purpose Hong Kong served during British rule, and it was initially believed that the city was a gateway to “transforming” China as a whole, which is why reunification was initially accepted, albeit with the small print that Beijing should have “no influence” in governing what is lawfully its own territory.

Thus, it goes without saying that this having failed, the campaign of negative publicity and deliberate dampening of business confidence in the city is part of the broader US geopolitical effort to undermine China, which also seeks to undermine broader confidence in trade and investment across the board.

The US has a vested interest in ensuring that Hong Kong is not allowed to thrive in harmony with the Chinese mainland, and thus it deliberately distorts and spreads fear about the business situation in the city — not because the national security legislation has actually undermined Hong Kong’s business environment, but because it seeks to deter anyone who attempts to undermine the stability of the city.

In conclusion, we must understand that this advisory was made in bad faith. On the ground, business life continues as it always did. The only people for whom Hong Kong has become intolerable are those who sought to undermine law and order, attack the national sovereignty of China, and promote separatism, unrest, destruction and violence.

The author is a British political and international-relations analyst.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.