On July 14, 2020, the President signed an Executive Order that requires, among other actions, Hong Kong to be treated as the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for the purposes of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), with a specific carve-out to support Hong Kong persons residing outside the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or the PRC who were previously authorized access to defense articles subject to the ITAR. Hong Kong is now considered to be included in the entry for China under section 126.1(d)(1) of the ITAR and therefore subject to a policy of denial for all transfers subject to the ITAR. The U.S. government is taking this action because the Chinese Communist Party has fundamentally undermined Hong Kong’s autonomy and thereby increased the risk that sensitive U.S. items will be illegally diverted to the PRC.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidents-executive-order-hong-kong-normalization/
